The majority of Americans want Trump to do something about prescription drug prices

pulse

May 1, 2017 7:31 PM

A new poll suggests than 92% of Americans support having the government negotiate drug prices for Medicare.

In this Thursday, April 20, 2017, photo, Jeff Bacon shows some of the medication he takes for chronic back pain, in Hampden, Maine.

Americans are still looking for ways to confront the rising cost of prescription drugs.

According to a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 60% of the roughly 1,100 people who responded to the survey consider lowering the cost of prescriptions a priority at the national level.

One of way to tackle the issue that has overwhelming support: allowing the government to negotiate drug prices with drugmakers for Medicare. According to the poll, 92% of Americans are in favor of allowing the government these Medicare negotiations. That response was consistent across party lines: 92% of Republicans, 92% of Independents, and 96% of Democrats were in favor of drug price negotiations.

The government currently can't negotiate prices for drugs that are part of Medicare's Part D program, which covers most prescription drugs. Exactly what it would look like if the government could negotiate prices wasn't included in the survey.

It's a topic that's been on President Donald Trump's radar.

In March, the president met with Reps. Elijah Cummings and Peter Welch to talk about drug pricing, where the representatives showed Trump a bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.

And it wasn't just Medicare negotiations that the survey respondents supported. Americans also overwhelmingly supported having drug companies release information on how they set the prices on drugs, placing limits on how much companies can charge, and even importing drugs from Canada.

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