Everything to Know About How TrumpRx Will Impact Black Americans

President Donald Trump launched his administration’s direct-to-consumer drug platform, TrumpRx, last week, hailing it as “one of the most transformative health care initiatives of all time.” Democrats, however, have dismissed it as a “glorified coupon book,” according to the Hill, raising concerns that TrumpRx’s benefits are overstated and will disproportionately impact Black Americans. Keep reading to learn more.

How and Who Does it Works

TrumpRx.gov allows Americans without health insurance to print or download coupons for certain drugs to use at any pharmacy, according to the website. By its launch, the website featured just over 40 prescription medications tackling obesity, asthma and other conditions.

“Starting tonight, dozens of the most commonly used prescription drugs will be available at dramatic discounts for all consumers throughout a new website,” Trump said Thursday (Feb. 5) night. TrumpRx also identifies commonly prescribed drugs as well as which pharmacies carry them. Trump claims Americans can predict to save anywhere between 33 and 93 percent on some of the drugs of the list, but experts argue otherwise.

Experts on TrumpRx

Jeffrey Singer, a health policy expert for the Cato Institute reacted to the news. “President Trump is right that direct-to-consumer drug sales can restore cost sensitivity and put pressure on prices,” he wrote. “But a government-run platform risks crowding out private competition and reintroducing political favoritism into a market that was already becoming more consumer-driven.”

Several organizations have also spoken out against TrumpRx. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen asserted that the only folks who will truly benefit from TrumpRx is Big Pharma.

“Drugmakers certainly will appreciate TrumpRx’s free promotion of their products, delivered with a false veneer of price accountability,” Peter Maybarduk, the Access to Medicines director at Public Citizen, wrote in a statement to POLITICO. “TrumpRx is designed to help Big Pharma keep its prices high by diluting the bargaining power of insurance companies, weakening an important check on pharma.”

How Will Black People Be Impacted?

The TrumpRx target audience is uninsured Americans who typically use cash and love couponing. According to the numbers, this description fits many Black Americans to a tee.

Black folks are more likely to be uninsured compared to their white counterparts, according to data from KFF. They’re also more likely to use cash instead of cashless options like debit cards or Venmo. As the economic gap continues to widen in America, concerns over the price of medications continues to rise in the Black community.

That’s why TrumpRx looks like the perfect alternative to Black folks with limited options.

Criticism

Still, the new policy is facing backlash after the president was accused of trying to swindle the American people. We previously told you Trump signed a wide-range of executive orders when he stepped back into the White House last year. Of those, the president rolled back over 70 Biden-era policies, including one which encouraged Medicare to help lower prescription costs, according to Politico.

Now that TrumpRx has launched, Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden wrote in a statement, “Every American familiar with the Trump record knows that all roads in TrumpRx will lead to Trump’s pocket.”

“TrumpRx will advance the Republican agenda to undermine affordable health care for American families,” he continued. “Americans don’t want to jump through yet another health care hoop on Trump’s self-serving website. Patients deserve to leave the doctor’s office, go to the pharmacy, and pay a low price for their medicine–no coupon needed.”