August 11, 2020
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
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
Phil Kerpen, President, American Commitment
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis, President, 60 Plus Association
Daniel Schneider, Executive Director, American Conservative Union
Jim Martin, Founder/Chairman, 60 Plus Association
Dee Stewart, President, Americans for a Balanced Budget
Marty Connors, Leader, Alabama Center-Right Coalition
Richard Manning, President, Americans for Limited Government
Bethany Marcum, Executive Director, Alaska Policy Forum
Brent Wm. Gardner, Chief Government Affairs Officer, Americans for Prosperity
Leo Knepper, CEO, Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania
Lisa B. Nelson, CEO, ALEC
Donald Bryson, President & CEO Civitas Institute
Michael Bowman, President, ALEC Action
Regina Thomson, President, Colorado Issues Coalition
Kevin Waterman, Chair, Annapolis Center-Right Coalition Meeting (Maryland)
Gregory Conko, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Robert Alt, President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute
James Edwards, Executive Director, Conservatives for Property Rights
Rabbi Aryeh Spero, President, Caucus for America
Matthew Kandrach, President, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
Ryan Ellis, President, Center for a Free Economy
Fred Roeder, Health Economist/Managing Director, Consumer Choice Center
Andrew F. Quinlan, President, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Jeffrey Mazzella, President, Center for Individual Freedom
Yael Ossowski, Deputy Director, Consumer Choice Center
Ginevra Joyce-Myers, Executive Director, Center for Innovation and Free Enterprise
Joel White, President, Council for Affordable Health Coverage
Peter Pitts, President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest
Katie McAuliffe, Executive Director, Digital Liberty
John Hinderaker, President, Center of the American Experiment
Robert Roper, President, Ethan Allen Institute
Adam Brandon, President, FreedomWorks
Thomas Schatz, President, Citizens Against Government Waste
Annette Meeks, CEO, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
George Landrith, President, Frontiers of Freedom
Doug McCullough, Director, Lone Star Policy Institute
Grace Marie-Turner, President, Galen Institute (organization listed for affiliation purposes only)
Lindsay Killen, Vice President for Strategic Outreach, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Ray Chadwick, Chairman, Granite State Taxpayers
Brett Healy, President, The John K. Maclver Institute for Public Policy
Naomi Lopez, Director of Healthcare Policy, Goldwater Institute
Matt Gagnon, President, Maine Policy Institute
Mario H. Lopez, President, Hispanic Leadership Fund
Charles Sauer, President, Market Institute
Carrie Lukas, President, Independent Women’s Forum
Dee Hodges, President, Maryland Taxpayers Association, Inc.
Heather R. Higgins, CEO, Independent Women’s Voice
Gene Clem, Spokesman, Michigan Tea Party Alliance
Andrew Langer, President, Institute for Liberty
Jameson Taylor, Ph.D., Vice President for Policy, Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Tom Giovanetti, President, Institute for Policy Innovation
Tim Jones, Chair, Missouri Center-Right Coalition, Fmr. Speaker, Missouri House
Sal Nuzzo, Vice President of Policy, James Madison Institute
Amy Oliver Cooke, CEO, John Locke Foundation
David A. Ridenour, President, National Center for Public Policy Research
Drew Cline, President, Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
Everett Wilkinson, Chairman National Liberty Foundation
Seton Motley, President, Less Government
Pete Sepp, President, National Taxpayers Union
Jay Fisher, Immediate Past Chairman, Lisle Township Republican Organization
John Tsarpalas, President, Nevada Policy Research Institute
Bette Grande, President & CEO, Roughrider Policy Center
Scott Pullins, Founder, Ohio Taxpayers Association
James L. Setterlund, Executive Director, Shareholder Advocacy Forum
Doug Kellogg, Executive Director, Ohioans for Tax Reform
Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Sally Pipes, President and CEO, Pacific Research Institute
Paul E. Vallely, Major General, US Army (ret.), Chairman, Stand Up America US Foundation
Ellen Weaver, President and CEO, Palmetto Promise Institute
Richard Watson, Chair, Tallahassee Center-Right Coalition
Daniel Esparmer, Chief Executive Officer, Pelican Institute for Public Policy
David Williams, President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Ed Martin, President, Phyllis Schlafly Eagles
Lorenzo Montanari, Executive Director, Property Rights Alliance
Sara Croom, Executive Director, Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperty
Stone Washington, Member, Project 21
C. Preston Noell III, President, Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Paul J. Gessing, President, Rio Grande Foundation
Lynn Taylor, President, Virginia Institute for Public Policy