Dear President Trump:
On behalf of the undersigned federal and state-based organizations, we write to express our grave concerns with the “most favored nation” (MFN) executive order to impose foreign price controls on American medicines.
This proposal will impose an “International Pricing Index” on drugs in Medicare Part B, tying the U.S. prices for these medicines to the prices in foreign countries, most of which have government-set prices established in socialized medicine systems.
Adopting these price controls will slow medical innovation, threaten American jobs, and undermine criticism of single-payer systems. In addition, a United States embrace of price controls will make it immeasurably more difficult to get foreign countries to pay their own way in the development of new medicines.
Your administration has repeatedly stood strong against a government-takeover of healthcare. In fact, in your 2020 State of the Union Address, you promised that “we will never let socialism destroy American health care.”
We applaud your strong stance – socialized healthcare policies proposed by some leading presidential candidates would require trillions of dollars in tax increases, would destroy medical progress, and would end healthcare plans used by 180 million Americans.
Unfortunately, an MFN policy would adopt the same socialist healthcare policies that you have promised to fight against.
Not only does this undermine the broader effort to fight against the government takeover of health care, it will also have disastrous consequences to the economy and healthcare system.
The U.S. is the best in the world when it comes to developing innovative, lifesaving and life preserving medicines. Because of this, the U.S. is leading the way when it comes to developing COVID-19 vaccines, with several promising candidates entering the final stages of testing and clinical trials.
In contrast, foreign countries have been free riding off this American medical innovation for decades through crushing price controls and other market-distorting government rules and regulations.
Adopting foreign price controls will result in the same negative outcomes to our healthcare system as those overseas—less medical innovation leading to fewer cures and healthcare shortages for American patients.
Adopting price controls through an MFN will also harm the U.S. economy because of a decline in American research and development. Medical innovation directly or indirectly supports 4 million jobs and $1.1 trillion in total economic impact, which will be threatened by importing price controls.
An MFN does nothing to fight foreign free riding of American innovation. Although supporters of MFN have claimed the concept will incentivize manufacturers to negotiate better deals, this theory is based on the flawed assumption that American manufacturers were not fighting as hard as they could against foreign price controls in past years. In addition, an American adoption of these same policies renders any future criticism of them incredibly challenging.
Moving forward, we need policies that further encourage American innovation through tax and trade policies, such as renegotiated trade deals, a competitive business tax system and a more competitive environment.
As President, you have championed vital changes in tax and regulatory policies that have allowed free market innovation to flourish. We believe a market-based approach like those that your administration has consistently supported in other policy areas will lead to economic growth and promising new treatments but adopting price controls through the MFN plan would undermine rather than build on those successes. In short, if the MFN executive order is implemented it will have disastrous consequences for both American healthcare and the American economy.
Sincerely,
Grover Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
President, 60 Plus Association
Jim Martin
Founder/Chairman, 60 Plus
Association
Marty Connors
Leader, Alabama Center-Right
Coalition
Bethany Marcum
Executive Director, Alaska Policy
Forum
Phil Kerpen
President, American Commitment
Daniel Schneider
Executive Director, American
Conservative Union
Dee Stewart
President, Americans for a
Balanced Budget
Richard Manning
President, Americans for Limited
Government
Brent Wm. Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer,
Americans for Prosperity
Lisa B. Nelson
CEO, ALEC
Michael Bowman
President, ALEC Action
Kevin Waterman
Chair, Annapolis Center-Right
Coalition Meeting (Maryland)
Robert Alt
President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute
Rabbi Aryeh Spero
President, Caucus for America
Ryan Ellis
President, Center for a Free Economy
Andrew F. Quinlan
President, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Jeffrey Mazzella
President, Center for Individual Freedom
Ginevra Joyce-Myers
Executive Director, Center for Innovation and Free Enterprise
Peter Pitts
President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest
John Hinderaker
President, Center of the American Experiment
Thomas Schatz
President, Citizens Against Government Waste
Leo Knepper
CEO, Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania
Donald Bryson
President & CEO, Civitas Institute
Regina Thomson
President, Colorado Issues Coalition
Gregory Conko
Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
James Edwards
Executive Director, Conservatives for Property Rights
Matthew Kandrach
President, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
Fred Roeder
Health Economist/Managing Director, Consumer Choice Center
Yaël Ossowski
Deputy Director, Consumer Choice Center
Joel White
President, Council for Affordable Health Coverage
Katie McAuliffe
Executive Director, Digital Liberty
Robert Roper
President, Ethan Allen Institute
Adam Brandon
President, FreedomWorks
Annette Meeks
CEO, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
George Landrith
President, Frontiers of Freedom
Grace Marie-Turner
President, Galen Institute
(organization listed for affiliation purposes only)
Ray Chadwick,
Chairman, Granite State Taxpayers
Naomi Lopez
Director of Healthcare Policy, Goldwater Institute
Mario H. Lopez
President, Hispanic Leadership Fund
Carrie Lukas
President, Independent Women’s Forum
Heather R. Higgins
CEO, Independent Women’s Voice
Andrew Langer
President, Institute for Liberty
Tom Giovanetti
President, Institute for Policy Innovation
Sal Nuzzo
Vice President of Policy, James Madison Institute
Amy Oliver Cooke
CEO, John Locke Foundation
Drew Cline
President, Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
Seton Motley
President, Less Government
Jay Fisher
Immediate Past Chairman, Lisle Township Republican Organization
Doug McCullough
Director, Lone Star Policy Institute
Lindsay Killen
Vice President for Strategic Outreach, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Brett Healy
President, The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy
Matt Gagnon
President, Maine Policy Institute
Charles Sauer
President, Market Institute
Dee Hodges
President, Maryland Taxpayers Association, Inc
Gene Clem
Spokesman, Michigan Tea Party Alliance
Jameson Taylor, Ph.D.
Vice President for Policy, Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Tim Jones
Chair, Missouri Center-Right Coalition
Fmr. Speaker, Missouri House
David A. Ridenour
President, National Center for Public Policy Research
Everett Wilkinson
Chairman, National Liberty Federation
Pete Sepp
President, National Taxpayers Union
John Tsarpalas
President, Nevada Policy Research Institute
Scott Pullins
Founder, Ohio Taxpayers Association
Doug Kellogg
Executive Director, Ohioans for Tax Reform
Sally Pipes
President and CEO, Pacific Research Institute
Ellen Weaver
President & CEO, Palmetto Promise Institute
Daniel Erspamer
Chief Executive Officer, Pelican Institute for Public Policy
Ed Martin
President, Phyllis Schlafly Eagles
Lorenzo Montanari
Executive Director, Property Rights Alliance
Stone Washington
Member, Project 21
Paul J. Gessing
President, Rio Grande Foundation
Bette Grande
President & CEO, Roughrider Policy Center
James L. Setterlund
Executive Director, Shareholder Advocacy Forum
Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Paul E. Vallely, Major General, US Army (ret)
Chairman, Stand Up America US Foundation
Richard Watson
Chair, Tallahassee Center-Right Coalition
David Williams
President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Sara Croom
Executive Director, Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity
C. Preston Noell III
President, Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Lynn Taylor
President, Virginia Institute for Public Policy