Most people can’t avoid paying for prescription drugs, and it’s something President Trump is promising to make easier.<\/p>\n
In his State of the Union, Mr. Trump said Americans who “have paid the highest of any nation for prescription drugs will now pay the lowest.”<\/p>\n
WCCO looked into recent federal changes to prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People at St. Paul Corner Drug are used to dealing in numbers and it’s an around-the-clock business.<\/p>\n
“My family and my dad does it because we love it, but it is not for the faint of heart,” Hildie Hoeschen, a nurse who works at the family pharmacy, said. “Our patients are part of our home. We are here to take care of them.”<\/p>\n
And lately, it’s involved some sticker shock.<\/p>\n
“I work with patients daily who are paying thousands of dollars in prescription costs,” Hoeschen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The president says he’s addressing the problem.<\/p>\n
“I am also lowering the cost of prescription drugs like it’s never happened before,” Mr. Trump said at his address to Congress.<\/p>\n
The cost changes include:<\/p>\n
A former President Joe Biden-spurred program capping out of pocket for seniors’ Medicaid Part D at $2,000.A drug pricing program.\u00a0TrumpRx: a direct-to-consumer drug ordering program.<\/p>\n
WCCO got insight from Marta Wosi\u0144ska, Ph.D., a nonpartisan expert in the field who spoke to the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
“If you are uninsured or drugs that don’t use insurance, like GLP-1 or fertility drugs, that could be a very significant benefit,” Wosi\u0144ska said.<\/p>\n
She says if you have insurance, it may not be worth using TrumpRx because you won’t be able to use it and pay down your deductible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hoeschen says it’s complicated for them, too.<\/p>\n
“Patients don’t tend to realize when they are picking up a prescription for 50 cents or 75 cents or $2, that’s amazing, but don’t realize that’s all we are getting on that prescription,” Hoeschen said.<\/p>\n
The president says they will continue to negotiate prices so more people win.<\/p>\n
WCCO found two examples on the TrumpRx website: The price of an IVF drug dropped from $316 dollars to $22 and a GLP-1 went from $1,349 down to $149.<\/p>\n
\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n