Hard-working families across the country are sick of Republicans taking a wrecking ball to our health care system to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Protect Our Care has a plan to fix it, and a core priority is to lower drug costs for everyone, including those with private insurance. Last year, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress handed big drug companies a multibillion-dollar giveaway while blocking Medicare from negotiating the prices of multiple blockbuster drugs that treat cancer and other critical conditions. Millions of Americans were already rationing medications, choosing between prescriptions and groceries, and struggling to keep up with rising health care costs. Republicans made it worse.
Democrats fought Big Pharma tooth and nail to lower drug costs, even after the drug industry spent over half a billion lobbying against them, and gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. This year alone, seniors and taxpayers are saving $6 billion on lifesaving drugs for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis. Next year, seniors and taxpayers will save twice as much on even more drugs. Over 40 million seniors saved an average of $200 in 2025 thanks to the law passed by Democrats and even more savings are coming this year. Meanwhile, Trump and Republicans in Congress haven’t saved most Americans a single penny on drugs and are making backroom deals and carrying out the bidding of big drug companies. Since Republicans robbed them of much-needed relief, seniors will pay thousands more each year for drugs such as lifesaving cancer drugs Darzalex and Keytruda.
But those savings should be extended to everyone, regardless of where they get their insurance. We can lower drug costs for American families by reversing Trump’s multibillion-dollar giveaway to big drug companies, expanding Medicare drug negotiations, and extending negotiated savings to people with private insurance. Democrats already have a bill at the ready to allow Medicare to negotiate more drug prices each year and make those lower prices available to the commercial insurance market, to cap people’s annual out-of-pocket costs on prescription drugs and insulin at $35 per month, and to close the loopholes created by Republicans that allow big drug companies to delay their lifesaving drugs from being negotiated.
Learn more about Protect Our Care’s “Sick of It! Fix Health Care Now” campaign, calling on lawmakers to take immediate action on commonsense solutions that Americans are asking for, here.
BY THE NUMBERS
- After Trump returned to office, drugmakers raked in record-high revenue while a record-high two in three Americans reported struggling to afford prescription drugs.
- Under TrumpRx, Americans are still being charged more than twice as much as other countries for drugs such as GLP-1s and may end up paying even more out of pocket.
- 43 percent of adults cannot afford to take their medications as prescribed due to cost.
- Meanwhile, thanks to a law passed by Democrats, millions of seniors saved an average of $200 in out-of-pocket costs in 2025 and are:
- saving hundreds annually on insulin thanks to the $35 cap.
- collectively saving $1.5 billion from newly negotiated prices for lifesaving, high-cost drugs.
- paying no more than $2,100 a year out of pocket on drugs.
- Democrats are fighting to extend these prescription drug savings to everyone, regardless of where they get their insurance, a reform which 84 percent of Americans support.
Trump Keeps the Handouts Coming for Corporations and Hikes Costs for Everyone Else
Trump and Republicans in Congress Are Carrying Out Big Drug Companies’ Bidding. Trump entertained drug company executives at his Mar-a-Lago resort before returning to office, solicited millions in donations, then spent the past year handsomely rewarding Big Pharma for their support. Trump helped big drug companies evade billions in taxes, escape tariffs, and exempt their top-selling products from drug price negotiations. He padded drugmakers’ profits by an additional $15 billion with a special tax break, expanded the tax break through the IRS, and gave Big Pharma an additional $9 billion gift at the expense of seniors and taxpayers. He carried out an executive order that read like an industry wishlist, launched a listening tour for company executives instead of working people, fast-tracked drug approvals for special interests, and pushed for more industry giveaways.
- Trump and Republicans in Congress Are Undermining the Only Programs Actually Lowering Drug Costs. While he showered Big Pharma with gifts and distracted the public with sham announcements, Trump worked behind the scenes to raise costs for patients. In the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” he handed Big Pharma their biggest victory in years by signing an $8.8 billion giveaway designed to carve out top-selling products, such as lifesaving cancer drugs Keytruda and Opdivo, from Medicare drug price negotiation. Per Tthe Wall Street Journal: “Thousands of Medicare recipients will have to wait longer to get some price relief on the expensive cancer drugs they depend on for treatment, while others might not get any reprieve at all.” These seniors will pay thousands more each year for drugs that treat cancer, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis thanks to Trump. To add insult to injury, Trump terminated a program that would allow seniors to purchase generic drugs for $2, eliminated the FDA office tasked with speeding approvals of cheaper generic drugs, and hiked the cost of prescription drug coverage for millions of seniors. Under Trump, drug companies are lining their pockets with record-breaking revenues while everyday Americans pay the price.
Trump’s Useless Coupon Site and Backroom “Deals” Are Smoke and Mirrors to Distract from His Industry Giveaways. The painful truth couldn’t be clearer: most Americans aren’t saving a penny from Trump’s dog-and-pony drug pricing show. More Americans than ever before are struggling with the cost of prescription drugs. GoodRx, the vendor behind the TrumpRx website, admitted that the website’s “utilization appears to be incremental” and “has not had a material impact on our business to date.” His latest Medicaid drug pricing scheme will not benefit enrolled families since they already pay almost nothing for drugs and will soon be forced to pay hundreds more out-of-pocket for health care — even if they do not lose their coverage altogether, thanks to Trump’s health care cuts. Drug companies celebrate Trump’s scam deals at shareholder calls, boasting about how they escaped tariffs and more legitimate efforts to lower prices. Analysts spoke of how the deals are “immaterial” to drug companies’ bottom lines and “likely a win for the pharmaceutical industry.” The industry’s worst-kept secret is that Trump’s “deals” are nothing but smoke and mirrors that benefit big drug companies more than working families.
Democrats Lowered Drug Costs for Seniors and Are Fighting to Lower Drug Costs for American Families
Democrats Fought Against Big Drug Companies And Won, Passing Into Law the Only Tool Actually Lowering Drug Costs for Americans. Democrats in Congress lowered drug prices for people with Medicare without a single Republican vote. Democrats gave Medicare the power to finally negotiate lower drug prices and saved seniors and taxpayers $6 billion this year on the following high-cost drugs for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and autoimmune disease:
Democrats’ drug price negotiation program will save seniors and taxpayers another $12 billion next year on even more drugs for cancer, diabetes, and asthma:
Democrats also ensured no one on Medicare will have to spend more than $2,100 a year out of pocket on drugs and no more than $35 a month on insulin and penalized big drug companies for price hikes to the tune of $1.3 billion, putting that money back in taxpayers’ wallets.
In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one should have to choose between putting food on the table and affording the medications they need to survive. Democrats have succeeded in lowering drug costs for seniors and are working to extend these savings to everyone, ending the status quo where drug companies get to dictate whatever price they want to charge, raise prices every year, and make record-breaking profits.
Meet the Americans Hurting From High Prescription Drug Costs While Trump Gives Blockbuster Giveaways to Drug Companies
In Wilton Manors, Florida, fitness coach Larry Gruber relies on weekly Envrel injections to manage his psoriatic arthritis and stay active enough to work. The medication, which was negotiated down through the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, costs more than $7,700 a month, but for 16 years, a manufacturer coupon helped cover his costs and counted toward his insurance deductible and out-of-pocket maximum. This year, after switching to a new health insurer, Gruber learned that his plan would no longer count the coupon toward his cost-sharing. Instead, he was forced to use his savings to meet a $10,600 out-of-pocket maximum. When his insurer told him it would cover only $1,000 of his April prescription, Gruber began rationing his injections, taking them every other week instead of weekly. “The real insult here is that they’re taking the money that’s intended to help you. I feel desperate, pressed against the wall, and squeezed,” Gruber said. [KFF Health News]
Last year, in Mission Viejo, California, Jayant Mishra was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis after developing painful swollen joints that made it difficult to do his work at a bank. When his doctor recommended Otezla, another drug selected for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, Mishra was initially nervous about the high cost and worried about side effects, but his pain eventually became so severe that he agreed to try the medication. His doctor secured approval from UnitedHealthcare and enrolled him in a manufacturer copay assistance program that Mishra was told should cover his costs for a year. But just after two months, he was hit with an unexpected $441.02 charge. Rather than pay the unexpected cost, Mishra began rationing his medication, skipping days and taking half doses to make his remaining pills last. [KFF Health News]
In Madison, Alabama, resident Alexia Kosciusko is living with diabetes and struggling to keep up with the rising cost of managing her condition. Over the past year, the cost of her insulin has climbed to nearly $120 a month. When she adds the cost of her pump supplies and other diabetes-related expenses, she is spending nearly $400 a month on her care. For Koscusko, the cost of staying healthy can come at the expense of other needs. “I’d have to go without my cell phone and service for like a week so that I could buy my insulin,” Kosciusko said. “There has even been times where I had to skip my car insurance. I have to pay it no matter what, because I can’t live without it.” [WAFF48]
In Del City, Oklahoma, Cheryl Jones has been living with thyroid cancer since 1996, and relies on Armour Thyroid which costs more than $100 per bottle. Armour Thyroid is just one of several medications she takes, and because her insurance does not reimburse the pharmacy for the full cost, Jones is responsible for paying the remainder. Living on Social Security, she says the high cost of her prescriptions has placed a burden on what were supposed to be her golden years, forcing her to make a choice no one should have to face: “It ultimately comes down to the decision of buying prescription drugs or food to eat. ” [Patients for Affordable Drugs]
Recently, in Little River, South Carolina, 80-year-old breast cancer patient Delcenia Currence was blindsided by a $700 price tag for a month’s supply of a generic medication she needs to keep her cancer from spreading. Currence has been battling breast cancer since 2024, and in her two decades as a Humana customer, she says she has never been charged for generic medication. The unexpected bill left her wondering how she would afford a medication she may need for the rest of her life. “It’s unbelievable. The pain … I feel abandoned, left alone, disappointed in the system,” Currence said. Still awaiting answers from her insurer, Currence said, “I never thought this would happen to me, I just need help.” [WMBF]
Click here for hundreds more stories of Americans paying the price since Trump prioritized billionaires and corporations over their health care.