What Americans Want Trump to Fix First

Americans think President-elect Trump’s first priority should be bringing down out-of-control prescription costs. (Investopedia)

A new Morning Consult poll: 60% of all voters say lowering drug costs should be the first thing Trump tackles once he takes office, higher than the share who said infrastructure (52%), immigration (49%) or reducing the deficit (46%).

• Republican concerns differ from the general public’s: GOP voters’ top priorities for Trump are all immigration-related — immigration reform (65%), building the wall (63%) and deportations of illegal immigrants (62%).

• However a solid majority (55%) do think Trump should focus on prescription costs.

The problem: In 2022, U.S. drug prices (including both brand and generic drugs) were 2.78 times higher than in similarly wealthy nations.

• A 2023 KFF analysis found the U.S. spends more than $1,000 per capita on prescribed medicines — compare that to Sweden, which spends less than $400 per person.

What’s Trump’s plan? In his first term, Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at lowering drug prices by allowing drug imports from Canada, passing discounts directly to patients and aligning Medicare drug prices with those in other countries.

• During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, said “price transparency” was a crucial part of reforming the system, “because if Americans realized how much more we were paying for pharmaceuticals over the Europeans, there would be a revolution in this country.”

Big picture: U.S. healthcare spending has ballooned from 6% to 16% of GDP in recent decades and costs more per capita than any other developed country, according to OECD data.

Bubba’s Two Cents

I believe that we’re on the precipice of a health and wellness revolution. Doctors have always said that eating right and exercise are the fundamental keys to good health, but now we’ve got myriad information coming at us from every angle telling us what’s good and bad. Alcohol consumption is down, working out is seen as a power move, and healthier quick-service options like Cava and Sweetgreen are popping up more and more. Not to mention Trump just took an alternative approach to HHS by appointing health nut RFK Jr. today, saying he wants Americans, “protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.”

Healthcare took a backseat to the economy and immigration this election cycle, but it seems like we’re about to see a very different approach to fixing the fundamental dysfunction that’s been plaguing our healthcare system for years - for better or worse.