A newly-launched government-branded prescription platform, TrumpRx, is being promoted to lower drug costs. But will it actually save Black patients money? How does it work — and who is it really designed to help? BlackDoctor.org spoke with Shantel Houston, PharmD, Interim Executive Vice President of the National Pharmaceutical Association, to understand more about the Direct-to-Consumer website and what you should know before using it.
Dr. Houston: TrumpRx is designed for cash-paying and uninsured patients, and that population disproportionately overlaps with Black Americans. [They] are more likely to be uninsured than white Americans, so they are more likely to fall within the narrow group this platform could actually help.
For the uninsured – or underinsured person paying out of pocket for a medication their plan doesn’t cover, TrumpRx could offer some relief.
Dr. Houston: There is a significant catch. Many of the manufacturer coupons featured on TrumpRx are unavailable to people enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid. This excludes a large portion of Black seniors and low-income individuals who rely on those programs.
Cash purchases through TrumpRx also do not count toward insurance deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums. Someone using this platform could end up spending more over the course of a year than they would under their existing coverage.
Dr. Houston: For most Americans, no. Roughly 85% of Americans have prescription drug coverage, and for the vast majority, their insurance copay will be lower than the cash prices listed on TrumpRx. The site itself even tells users to check their copay first – and that advice is very important.
“Drug pricing in this country is a real crisis, and any effort to address it deserves fair scrutiny. TrumpRx is not a scam, but it is not a revolution either. It is a repackaged coupon site, and using it without doing your homework could end up costing you more.”
Dr. Houston: Fertility medications and GLP-1 obesity drugs are the standout examples. Fertility drugs, like Gonal-F, could see meaningful price reductions, which matters when families are spending thousands out of pocket per IVF cycle.
However, even the discounted GLP-1 prices, while lower than the list price, are not necessarily lower than what was already available. [Manufacturers like] Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly had already reduced their cash prices, and many of the prices listed on TrumpRx match those available through existing manufacturer programs.
Additionally, nearly half of the listed brand-name drugs have much cheaper generic versions available on platforms, such as GoodRx and [Mark Cuban’s] Cost Plus Drugs. Steering people toward brand-name drugs without flagging that cheaper generics exist is a disservice.
Dr. Houston: In practice, TrumpRx is built on the same infrastructure. GoodRx has publicly confirmed it is a key integration partner powering the pricing on the platform. Reports have also shown that TrumpRx uses the same BIN and PCN as GoodRx, meaning pharmacies submit the same information they would to GoodRx.
This effectively makes TrumpRx the same discount card mechanism with a .gov URL, complete with Trump’s branding.
Cost Plus Drugs operates differently. It is an actual pharmacy that sells generic medications at cost plus a flat 15 percent markup, often resulting in dramatically lower prices than TrumpRx or GoodRx. Cost Plus Drugs focuses on generics, where the real savings are for most patients, while TrumpRx focuses exclusively on brand-name drugs from the manufacturers that struck deals with the administration.
In short, TrumpRx is a government-branded coupon aggregator. It is not a pharmacy, it does not sell anything, and it is not breaking new ground in drug pricing.
Dr. Houston: First, ask your pharmacist about generics, check your insurance copay, and then compare prices on GoodRx and Cost Plus Drugs before using TrumpRx.
Drug pricing in this country is a real crisis, and any effort to address it deserves fair scrutiny. TrumpRx is not a scam, but it is not a revolution either. It is a repackaged coupon site, and using it without doing your homework could end up costing you more.
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