Why TrumpRx's Real Test Is Access, Not Price

TrumpRx has spent six months promising lower prices, but according to AMCP's Adam Colborn, JD, a lower price on paper is not the same thing as a easier path to the pharmacy counter. In the first two parts of his video interview with Pharmaceutical Commerce, Colborn, vice president of government affairs at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, walked through AMCP's member survey on the platform, including why respondents were skeptical that TrumpRx delivers the lowest available price and why he considers the current savings narrative "more messaging than true data."

In the third and final installment, Colborn draws a distinction between affordability and access, arguing the two get conflated in how TrumpRx is discussed. A discounted cash price is only useful to a patient if a nearby pharmacy actually honors the coupon, and he notes some pharmacies decline to participate in coupon programs because the economics do not work in their favor. Layered on top of an already fragmented benefits landscape, Colborn says that friction can leave patients calling multiple stores only to be turned away, without knowing in advance whether the platform will save them money at all.

Colborn also places TrumpRx in a broader context of price-comparison tools, from Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs to GoodRx to Amazon, and manufacturer-run direct-to-consumer programs like Lilly Direct. He argues the shop-ability trend across these platforms, more than TrumpRx specifically, is the more interesting development, and that none of them have yet shown how they interface with a patient's existing insurance benefits. With FTC settlements requiring PBMs to eventually count TrumpRx purchases toward deductibles, Colborn says how that requirement gets implemented is worth watching.

Watch the first and second installments of his interview with PC:

1. Health Plans, PBMs Wary of TrumpRx Impact on Patients
2. Does TrumpRx's Price Talk Match Patient Savings?