The White House might issue executive orders to lower drug prices sometime this week, and some Republican lawmakers and pharmaceutical companies are not happy about it, according to The Hill.
News of the potential executive action arrives just a little more than three months before the presidential election, in a year a lawsuit backed by President Donald Trump is threatening to strike down the pre-existing portion of the Affordable Care Act.
"The president continues to explore any and all options that will deliver lower cost drugs, while ensuring we have access to the most innovative vaccines and therapeutics in the world," White House spokesman Judd Deere said.
Under one proposed order, the United States would get drugs at the same low prices as developed nations. It is unclear whether the orders would take effect before the election.
Another proposed order would eliminate "rebates," or added costs drug companies pay to pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) who broker deals with customers. Drugmakers are in favor of this proposal, PBMs and insurance companies adamantly oppose it.
One Republican Senate aide said some GOP lawmakers have tried to convince the White House not to go through with the orders.
"We thought this thing was dead," a pharmaceutical industry source told The Hill. The source added drugmakers have reached out to their friends in Congress to block the measure.
Conservative group FreedomWorks on Tuesday announced a six-figure Hulu and digital ad blitz opposing the proposed orders, calling them "socialist price controls."
FreedomWorks, along with Americans for Tax Reform and Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, and Americans for Prosperity wrote Trump on Monday opposing the proposed orders.