Fiscal Tax Blog

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Stop Germany, Japan Free-Riding On U.S. Drug Innovation

The developed world has long forced American patients to disproportionately shoulder the cost of pharmaceutical innovation. And President Donald Trump has had enough. He recently put our allies on notice—by launching a formal trade investigation into Germany’s unfair drug pricing practices and signaling his readiness to formally investigate other nations if they refuse to change course. Those investigations are desperately needed. Germany’s government is poised to enact an even more aggressive price-setting scheme in the…

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U.S. opens tariff probe targeting Germany’s drug pricing policies

The U.S. has launched an investigation into Germany’s pharma policies over what it referred to as “persistent underpayment” for medicines as the European country looks to limit spiraling healthcare costs, including spending on drugs. “President Trump has made clear that American patients should not be shouldering a disproportionate share of global pharmaceutical research and development,” said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in a statement late Thursday. “I am particularly concerned with news that Germany is fast-tracking…

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The ‘most favored nation’ threat is real. Seniors should take notice

People have spent a lifetime paying taxes in exchange for the promise of Medicare coverage once they reach 65. In return, seniors expect to receive the highest quality care and access to innovative, impactful treatments and therapies they need to maintain their health. The “most favored nation” drug pricing policy being considered by the Trump administration threatens to disrupt their Medicare coverage completely by importing foreign price-setting policies that could limit access to the medications millions depend on. Every Medicare beneficiary…

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Biden blunders made drug price controls even worse

The comically misnamed Inflation Reduction Act imposed government price controls on prescription drugs by replacing the old non-interference principal, which used market-average prices to set drug reimbursement, with a scheme that allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to directly set prices via a sham negotiation, in which the manufacturer has to agree or face a punitive seizure via a tax equal to 95% of the product’s total sales. A system like that undermines the return on the…

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Foreign drug price controls are a hidden tax on Americans

The United States spends far more on healthcare, on a per capita basis, than any other country in the world. There are many reasons why, including health insurance companies. But one reason has been largely overlooked: foreign governments maintain pricing systems that limit what they pay for drugs. The difference has been absorbed in the United States, with the result that Americans cover a disproportionate share of the world’s drug costs. These pharmaceutical pricing systems need to be…

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When insurers deny care, patients pay the price

Mark Cuban, whose new deal with the Trump administration is already lowering prescription drug costs and expanding access for patients, recently asked why health insurers aren’t liable for malpractice when their denials harm patients. As a physician, I have been asking that question for more than 30 years. The answer is the same now as it was then: No one is holding them accountable. It is time to change that.

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End the Big Insurance Protection Racket

By Phil Kerpen May 20, 2026 The health insurance companies have taken to the airwaves to blame the hospital systems for out-of-control health care costs. Their argument has some merit, because hospital costs have skyrocketed in recent years. But the insurance companies have been the chief culprits in the cartelization of health care, and it was the Obamacare law they helped shape that was the proximate cause of industrywide consolidation, with a loss of choice…

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Trump was right, Germany was wrong — first on NATO, now on trade

Ten years ago, President Donald Trump put Europe on notice, telling them the status quo on defense spending was unsustainable — and that America would not continue to shoulder the cost of keeping the European Union safe. Trump was right, but leaders such as former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not want to listen. Only after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine did they realize their mistake. Fast forward to 2026, and Scholz’s successor, Friedrich Merz, now aspires to command…