Authored by Steve Cortes via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Last November, Americans sent a clear election message and delivered President Trump a clear mandate: Prices are way too high. While inflation has hit our grocery stores (up 23.6% since 2020) and housing costs (up 30.9% since 2020), there’s another cost outpacing the rest when it comes to price hikes. Prescription drugs have jumped 46.2% since 2020, forcing Americans to pay the highest price in the world for life-saving medications. No wonder citizens are angry.

In 2022, Congress passed legislation that gave the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) the authority to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries for the first time. As this administration targets cost-saving measures across government, this program is projected to save billions of dollars, with an estimated $1.5 billion in savings for seniors next year alone and $100 billion in total taxpayer savings over 10 years.

Thankfully, President Trump knows how to negotiate. With his leadership, Medicare negotiation could be just the start in a larger effort to earn a better deal for Americans on prescription drugs. This issue presents an enormous opportunity for the president to bolster his legacy by protecting and expanding the government’s ability to crack down on corrupt lobbyists and special interests and allow the government to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers to lower prescription drug prices for the American people.

This issue is not new to President Trump, who has long railed against the corruption and greed in the pharmaceutical industry. He recognizes that “we pay, as a country, so much more for drugs because of the drug lobbies,” whom he says are “getting away with murder.” Trump’s solution? “Tougher negotiation [and] more competition [will lead to] much lower prices.” As one of the early voices calling for Medicare to negotiate drug prices back in 2016, this is his moment to make this promise into reality.

Now that he’s back in the White House, Trump can reaffirm his commitment to reducing costs for seniors and cutting government spending, two of his biggest priorities. Consistent with his clear mission to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, he has already begun to implement this cost-saving plan by supporting and defending Medicare’s ability to negotiate lower drug prices.

If the drug lobby is successful in fighting against Trump by rolling back Medicare’s negotiation authority, the biggest winners would be – you guessed it – pharmaceutical companies, which would return to charging inflated prices, forcing both the government and everyday Americans to bear the cost, increasing prices of prescription drugs by a shocking 46.2%, effectively doubling their cost.

President Trump has long been a vocal critic of Big Pharma. His leadership can yet again make him the strongest voice ever in holding the industry accountable. Backing policies that rein in drug prices would be a major victory not just for his administration, but for every American family.

I know President Trump will continue to fight for the American people because he understands that Americans should never be taken advantage of by the drug lobby. This is President Trump’s chance to do it big by standing up to Big Pharma and ensuring drug prices come down. That’s a deal that every American can get behind.

Steve Cortes is a former advisor to President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance and a former commentator on Fox News and CNN.