Trump Extends Medicaid Drug Price Deals Nationwide
Trump Extends Medicaid Drug Price Deals Nationwide
The News
President Donald Trump announced Friday that all 50 states will get "most favored nation" pricing on certain drugs in their Medicaid programs.
The administration says it negotiated the prices with 26 pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
Trump made the announcement from the Oval Office, joined by several governors, according to an administration official cited by The Hill.
The Numbers
The White House projects $27.6 billion in net savings for states over 10 years, and the White House Council of Economic Advisers projects $36.6 billion in federal savings over the same period. Across all of its most-favored-nation deals, the White House projects $529 billion in total savings.
Medicaid covered roughly 74 million people, and the federal government spent $668 billion on the program in fiscal 2025.
Timeline
Republicans cut federal Medicaid spending by $1 trillion over a decade in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Medicaid covers about 74 million people at a federal cost of $668 billion.
Semafor reports exclusively that the administration is set to announce most-favored-nation pricing for certain Medicaid drugs in all 50 states. Reuters, Newsmax and others pick up the report.
The Hill reports Trump will make the announcement in the Oval Office alongside several governors.
The White House confirms Medicaid programs in all 50 states are expected to get the Trump-negotiated prices.
Reactions
The White House is casting the deals as proof of progress on drug costs, pointing to its own savings projections for states and the federal government.
Kathy Hempstead of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says the administration wants Congress to write the most-favored-nation deals into law, but warns that without public deal details lawmakers have no clear basis to act.
The Washington Examiner notes the announcement lands with affordability at the top of voters' minds as the 2026 midterm elections approach.
What's Next
The administration wants Congress to codify the most-favored-nation arrangements, which would outlast the current White House.
Key questions are still open: the specific terms of the 26 drugmaker deals, which drugs are covered, how much of the projected savings simply reflects Medicaid's existing discount mandates, and whether the lower prices survive a future administration.
More
The savings would land mostly on state budgets rather than on patients. Medicaid enrollees already pay only nominal co-payments for prescriptions, so lower negotiated prices show up in government ledgers, not at the pharmacy counter.
The central dispute is whether the claimed savings are real. Because the deal terms have not been made public, outside analysts cannot independently verify the numbers.
Poll
Should the White House release the full terms of the 26 drug pricing deals?
Foreign Hackers Breach Two Colorado Water Systems
Sheeran Ticket Prices Fall After Macklemore Tour Ouster
Sep 18, 2026
Report: US Iran War Deaths Exceed Pentagon Count
Sep 18, 2026
FAA Clears Trump Arch, Orders Eternal Flame
Sep 18, 2026
Clancy Holdout Juror Hides; Trump Lawyer Steps In
Sep 18, 2026
Trump Bans CNN, MSNOW, Politico; Warns More Next
Sep 18, 2026
FBI Cut Canada Police Ties Over 9/11 Wording
Sep 18, 2026
Mullin Defends ICE Arrests, Rips GOP Rep's Claim
Sep 18, 2026
Sweden's Social Democrat Leader Tasked to Form Government
Sep 18, 2026
Border Wall Construction Begins in Big Bend
Sep 18, 2026
Clancy Holdout Juror: 'I Didn't Have Any Doubts'
Sep 18, 2026
Michigan Democrat Rips Vance's 'Fake' Beard, Demands Bench-Off
Sep 18, 2026
Disney Hires Character.AI CEO as First Tech Chief
Sep 18, 2026
Board Asks Court to Block Trump Name Carving
Sep 18, 2026
Tax Returns Undercut Trump's Kennedy Center Money Claims
Sep 18, 2026
Wendy's Franchisee With 300 Stores Files Bankruptcy
Sep 18, 2026
Pentagon Unseals UFO Files, Warp Drive Studies
Sep 18, 2026
Toys R Us Adds 120 Stores; Burlington Expands
Sep 18, 2026
Review: Fed Too Timid Before SVB Collapse
Sep 18, 2026
Abbott Freezes New Flock Cameras on Texas Roads
Sep 18, 2026
Sep 18, 2026