Chris Klomp, director of the Center for Medicare, joins “Mornings with Maria” to outline the Trump administration’s latest Medicare rate update, defend new efforts to curb rising health care costs and highlight ongoing steps to lower prescription drug prices.
Falling prescription drug costs are emerging as a major development in the broader effort to rein in U.S. health care spending, with new price shifts beginning to materialize at the pharmacy counter.
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Klomp pointed to the first signs that price pressure is easing, especially for high-demand drugs such as GLP-1 drugs, which have soared in popularity but have remained out of reach for many patients. He attributed the recent price drops to President Donald Trump’s actions to lower drug costs through new pricing initiatives.
“If you need a GLP-1, you now pay half of what you paid a few months ago before he announced those deals,” Klomp said.
Klomp framed the price changes as part of a broader effort to address the affordability challenges that have kept many Americans from writing prescriptions.
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Woman injects a syringe with medicine into her stomach (David Petrus Ibars/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“That solves the problem for a quarter of Americans who cannot pick up a prescription when they come to the pharmacy counter because they cannot afford it now,” Klomp said.
The price drop reflects a broader effort to better align drug costs with international benchmarks while increasing market competition. GLP-1 drugs, commonly used for diabetes and weight management, have become a focal point in the affordability debate as demand continues to rise.
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Klomp suggested that the changes extend beyond a single class of drugs, pointing to similar trends in other treatments where cost has historically been a barrier to entry.
“If you want to grow your family, you have to start taking fertility drugs again. You’ll pay about half as much for those drugs, saving you thousands of dollars per treatment cycle than you would a few months ago,” he said.
The shifts come as policymakers look for ways to reduce out-of-pocket costs while maintaining the long-term sustainability of federal health care programs.
“[Trump’s] ensuring affordability for every American family to be their healthiest selves,” Klomp said.
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