The White House’s direct-to-consumer prescription drug website TrumpRx.gov is now live, with President Donald Trump announcing the launch Thursday at a White House event. “You’re going to save a fortune,” he said.
TrumpRx doesn’t actually sell drugs, as the site’s FAQ explains. Instead, it directs customers to manufacturers’ own savings programs or to participating pharmacies where shoppers can use coupon codes that TrumpRx provides.
The Trump administration has reportedly negotiated with more than a dozen drug manufacturers, but the products of only five drugmakers are eligible for discounts on the site.
The concept of a middleman that delivers prescription drug savings to consumers isn’t new: GoodRx.com has been around for 15 years, offering comparison-shopping, coupon codes and a subscription-based model for deeper discounts through partnerships with pharmacy benefit managers.
And in 2022, entrepreneur Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. The MCCPDC website, CostPlusDrugs.com, gives people access to low-cost generic drugs and uses a transparent fee structure.
In addition, some pharmaceutical companies, like Eli Lilly, have their own direct-to-consumer online storefronts where customers can access discounts.
Currently, TrumpRx is modest in scope, with discounts available on just 43 drugs. “We’re just getting started,” a disclaimer at the top of the site states, with more medications promised in the future.
Many of the medications focus on weight loss and fertility, including popular — and notoriously expensive — anti-obesity drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, which aren’t always covered by insurance.
The site also offers inhalers for asthma, insulin and a smattering of specialty drugs for some rare disorders. In an analysis, the New York Times points out that many of the medications that come with the most eye-watering price tags, such as targeted cancer drugs, are absent from TrumpRx.
Will it make your medicine cheaper?
The short answer is “maybe”; the slightly longer answer is “it depends.” The upshot is that getting to the bottom of that question involves factoring in a lot of moving parts, and looking at your health care and prescription spending holistically.
For starters, people who have insurance aren’t likely to save money using the new platform. Most insurance co-pays for prescriptions are lower than the self-pay prices, even at a discount. The site acknowledges this, prompting users to check their insurance coverage first.
Many of the discounts displayed are hefty, ranging from 33% to 93% off. But these percentages are based on original list prices that few, if any, customers would actually pay after insurance- and pharmacy-negotiated discounts are factored in.
“For… most brand-name medications, people are likely to get a better deal using their insurance rather than purchasing a drug through a direct-to-consumer website,” Juliette Cubanski, the deputy director of research organization KFF’s program on Medicare Policy, told CNBC.
Some of the expensive name-brand medications on the TrumpRx site are already available in generic versions that are cheaper than the discounted name-brand drugs on TrumpRx.
In addition, it’s important to read the fine print; some of the discounted prices on TrumpRx are only for an initial course of the drug — say, the first month of treatment — after which the price rises. And the discounted prices advertised are, in some cases, temporary promotions.
For popular drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, which insurance doesn’t often cover — or covers for a limited time or only for certain conditions (such as diabetes or sleep apnea) — TrumpRx may save you money. But again, there are other factors to consider.
For instance, in some cases, self-paying customers might be able to get discounts or coupons directly from the drugmaker. (It’s a good idea to check the manufacturer’s website first if you need an expensive prescription not covered by insurance.)
If you choose to self-pay rather than go through your insurance, your purchases might not count toward your deductible or out-of-pocket maximum. This is also a drawback with using GoodRx, MCCPDC and other direct-to-consumer sites, although a recent settlement reached between the Federal Trade Commission and pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts could pave the way for direct-pay drug purchases to count toward these thresholds in the future.
The bottom line? Don’t assume TrumpRx will give you the best deal on drug prices. “There may be patients who think this is a good deal and then end up financially worse off,” Rachel Sachs, a law professor who studies drug pricing at Washington University in St. Louis, told the Times.
While it’s smart to include TrumpRx on the list of sites you check when comparison-shopping for prescriptions, ultimately, it might not make much of a difference in your medication expenses.
For many Americans, it’s more likely that adding one more platform to the already-complex prescription drug marketplace will make the hunt for cheaper meds more complicated.
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