President Trump and the Republicans cut health care for millions of families. The president promoted his TrumpRx website as a solution for Americans concerned about health care costs, said Senator Warren during a hearing.
“He claims that TrumpRx has cut prices by as much as 600%,” she continued.
“600%, which I think means companies should be paying you to take their drugs.”
Trump has often boasted about dramatic price cuts, but as Warren pointed out, 600% is impossible.
Even 100% would be unreasonable for these companies, as it would mean giving the drugs away for free. If a drug costs $10 and you cut it by 100%, it’s now $0.
“But let’s do some real math here,” continued Warren.
“Take one drug, Protonix, a 30-day supply of this heartburn medication, costs $200 on TrumpRx. But there is an identical generic version of this pill called Pantoprazole. Secretary Kennedy, do you know how much it costs for a 30-day supply of that drug at Costco?”
“But I would say this, Senator, President Trump has a different way of calculating,” said RFK. “
If— There’s two ways of calculating percentage. If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that’s a 600% reduction.”
Of course, Kennedy is mistaken.
If you drop $600 to $10, that would be a 98.33% reduction. You calculate based on the starting number, not on the reduced number working backwards. This is emblematic of the entire MAGA ethos: reject reality and use that rejection to claim some great achievement. Meanwhile, the rest of us still exist in the real world paying real prices.
“I understand, but you know I only have five minutes,” Warren said, bulldozing over RFK’s bunk math.
“Do you know what the drug costs at Costco?”
“I do not,” conceded Kennedy.
“The drug is $16 at Costco.
TrumpRx charges $200 for Protonix and Costco charges $16,” said Warren. “Let’s do another one. Tikosyn is a treatment for heart arrhythmia. It costs $336 on TrumpRx or you can get the generic at Cost Plus Drugs for $12. So you tell me, Mr. Secretary, are patients better off paying $336 on TrumpRx or $12 at Cost Plus Drugs?”
This is exactly how you dismantle Trumpian lies.
Drill through the misinformation, the propaganda, and the misdirection to get to the cold hard data. RFK and Trump can try all they want to mislead the American people, the numbers never lie.
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