For decades, the United States has led the world in developing groundbreaking medications that allow patients to live longer and healthier lives. Despite these contributions, American families pay substantially higher prices for these breakthroughs than patients in any other country. The Trump administration just announced a major new policy to ensure seniors with chronic conditions can access the medications they need at their lowest global price.
In December, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the creation of a new Medicare pilot program, the Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing Model, to ensure millions of seniors pay the same low price for prescription drugs as individuals in other wealthy countries. Under this program, millions of Medicare enrollees who purchase brand-name drugs for conditions such as cancer, autoimmune disease, and rheumatoid arthritis will be able to buy them at the same low cost as other prosperous countries. If drug manufacturers fail to charge these selected Medicare enrollees the lower international price, they will have to repay the difference to Medicare in the form of a rebate.
This reform addresses the long-standing practices that raise U.S. drug prices and threaten the health of sick Americans. On average, patients in the U.S. pay 4.22 times higher prices for brand-name drugs than individuals in other advanced countries. Drug manufacturers charge Americans high prices to recoup their investments in inventing and developing these life-saving medications. However, other countries shirk their responsibility to pay the necessary costs of drug development by imposing price controls on medicines. In 2018 alone, foreign price controls handed $254 billion in drug discounts to other wealthy countries.
Patients abroad get sweetheart deals from drug manufacturers, while Americans get steep prices.
Due to global freeloading, many Americans can no longer afford to access essential medications. In 2024, 1 in 5 adults chose not to fill a prescription because of its cost. When patients don’t take their medication, they are significantly more likely to see their health worsen. Ten percent of all hospitalizations among seniors occur as a result of prescription nonadherence. Medication nonadherence is also responsible for an estimated 112,0000 annual premature deaths among seniors.
Pegging America’s drug prices to international drug prices will significantly reduce prices and put life-saving medications within reach for millions of seniors. HHS estimates these discounts will reduce out-of-pocket expenses for seniors by $6.2 billion and save taxpayers another $11.9 billion.
These reforms will also expand drug access for Americans by accelerating the development of new medications. Because other nations have underpaid drug developers for decades, these companies lost out on billions of dollars that could have been invested in inventing and manufacturing new pharmaceutical breakthroughs to improve patients’ lives. By tying America’s drug prices to foreign drug prices, drug manufacturers could no longer rely on American patients to subsidize the discounts offered to other countries. Many drug companies would likely have to raise prices abroad, ensuring these countries contribute more resources to fund drug development. In anticipation of these reforms, several drug manufacturers, including Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb, have already announced they are aligning the prices of some of their products in other wealthy countries. One 2018 study estimated that entirely removing drug price controls in other developed countries would allow manufacturers to produce eight to 13 additional drugs per year by 2030.
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The GLOBE Model is the latest move by the Trump administration to ensure Americans can afford essential prescription drugs. Since September 2025, the White House has negotiated with 14 major drug manufacturers to allow patients to purchase many brand-name medications at a significantly discounted cash price. Americans with multiple sclerosis who use Novartis’s drug Mayzent will pay $8,850 less for a 30-day supply of the drug. Those with diabetes who use Jentadueto from Boehringer Ingelheim will pay $470 less. Patients with high cholesterol who purchase Amgen’s drug Repatha will pay $344 less.
For too long, the world has enjoyed America’s medical breakthroughs while America’s families paid the bill. By bringing international prices within reach for seniors, Trump is finally making prescription drugs affordable and pushing foreign nations to share in the real cost of medical innovation.
Bobby Jindal served as governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016 and as a U.S. assistant secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2003. He currently serves as chairman for Healthy America at the America First Policy Institute.
Charlie Katebi serves as deputy director for Healthy America at the America First Policy Institute