Candidate Trump promised in 2016 to "negotiate like crazy" to bring down drug costs but failed. Leading up to the 2020 election, in an effort to court senior voters, Trump announced an executive order "Lowering Drug Prices By Putting America First" but refused to release the text of the order. Shortly after, he put the executive order on hold. Two months later Trump announced a new executive order under the original name to "immediately take appropriate steps to implement his rulemaking plan to test a payment model," putting in place "most favored nations" policy.

In short, word salad that provided no real savings for patients or the federal government.

The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled the first 10 prescription drugs that will be subject to price negotiations between manufacturers and Medicare, kicking off a controversial process that aims to make costly medications more affordable for older Americans.

President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in a party-line vote last year, gave Medicare the power to directly hash out drug prices with manufacturers for the first time in the federal program's nearly 60-year history. The agreed-upon prices for the first round of drugs are scheduled to go into effect in 2026.

The first ten drugs include some of the most prescribed and most expensive medications, including:

Eliquis
Jardiance
Xarelto
Januvia
Farxiga
Entresto
Enbrel
Imbruvica
Stelara
Fiasp and NovoLog

The 10 medicines accounted for $50.5 billion, or about 20%, of total Part D prescription drug costs from June 1, 2022, to May 31, 2023, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS.

Savings for patients and the federal government could top $100 billion.

cnbc.com - Drugs to face medicare price negotiations see the list