Medicinal drug prices have been increasing to an almost unpayable amount. The biggest one that is making headlines is the Epi-Pen. The Epi-Pen now costs $600 dollars for a pack of two inject-able pens. Drug companies will advertise the drug, but will not release the cost. The Trump administration is hoping to raise a bill that will force drug companies to release the cost of the drug in their advertisement.

Trump is trying to lower the cost of the prescriptions and hopes that by forcing the drug companies to advertise their cost, they would be forced to lower the prices. Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Secretary, has drafted a bill that will force drug companies to disclose in ads the list price of a 30-day supply of any drug that is covered through Medicare and Medicaid and costs more than $35 a month. “Sometimes it takes government to make the first move, to disrupt a broken system, and to lay down new rules of the road,” Azar said. He hopes it will be enacted, but it depends on the drug manufacturers’ resistance.

This proposal has joined party lines in which many Democrats are going against party lines to endorse this bill. President Trump hopes that by making the cost public in advertisements, consumers would become more price sensitive, decreasing the rate in which drug prices are rising in recent years. The National Academy of Medicine has began listing the prices of drugs on company websites. The websites give consumers information on a variety of pricing information, including the list price of a drug, the expected out-of-pocket costs of the drug and the patient assistance programs available.

The president of PhRMA,  Steve Ubl, states, “Disclosing the price of a medication in a T.V. ad would be confusing, misleading, lacks appropriate context and isn’t what patients want or need.” He believes that by releasing the cost of the medicine, patients would not seek medical treatment. Ubl is calling the proposal a restriction on his First Amendment rights.

The Trump administration has high optimism that the bill will get passed shortly.