Dear Reader,

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A recent survey revealed that Americans are cutting back on groceries and even dropping insurance just to survive healthcare costs.

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So when Washington suddenly rolls out a way to make certain drugs cheaper, people understandably cheer.

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That’s why TrumpRx – which gives people access to a growing list of prescription drugs at sharply lower cash-pay prices – is getting applause from both sides of the aisle.

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Even people like Mark Cuban – who once said that Trump had “fascist tendencies” – have praised it.

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On the surface, that sounds like a win.

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And for some people, it probably is.

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But it should also make you suspicious.

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Because if these drugs can suddenly be sold this much cheaper now…

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The question everyone should be asking themselves is…

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Why Were Americans Being Charged So Much in the First Place?

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The basic idea behind TrumpRx is pretty simple.

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It’s a cash-pay portal for dozens of prescription drugs.

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You still need a prescription – but instead of going through the usual insurance and pharmacy maze, you go through the portal and buy the drug directly at a posted cash price.

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That price is based on a Most Favored Nation model. All that means is this:

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If a drug company is already willing to sell the same drug more cheaply in other developed countries, then Americans should get a similar low price too.

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In other words, the government is saying:

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“If you can sell it for far less in Germany, Canada, or France… don’t turn around and charge Americans several times more.”

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That’s the pitch.

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And again – I get why that’s attractive.

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If you’re paying absurd prices for insulin, semaglutide, or some other medication…

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You don’t really care whether the lower price came from a beautiful free market process.

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You care that your monthly bill just got slashed.

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That’s why this kind of thing can get support from people across the political spectrum.

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Even people who are usually hostile to Trump can look at cheaper drug prices and say: “Yeah, good. Finally.”

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But that still doesn’t answer the more important question:

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Why were these drugs so outrageously expensive in the first place?

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Because that’s where the real problem is.

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You see, instead of curing the bureaucratic disease…

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TrumpRX just treats the symptoms.

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It may relieve some of the pain, but it does not remove the root cause of that pain.

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The Cycle That Keeps Americans Sick and Poor

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If you pull the curtain back, the story is not that complicated.

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The government taxes you and funds research through agencies like the NIH.

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Then universities and research institutions turn those discoveries into patents and licenses.

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Then Big Pharma steps in with the legal protection and pricing power.

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Then the FDA piles on massive regulatory barriers that keep smaller competitors out.

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The result is predictable: monopoly pricing, protected margins, and a lobbying machine that keeps the whole system in place.

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That’s the loop.

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But whenever you point this out, people immediately say:

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“But pharma needs patent protection. They’re spending billions upfront to develop these drugs.”

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Sounds reasonable – until you look more closely.

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Yes, bringing a drug to market is expensive.

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But a lot of that expense is tied to the regulatory gauntlet itself – not just the natural cost of discovering and producing the drug. 

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One JAMA study found that for 59 new drugs approved in 2015–2016, the median direct cost of the key trials was just $19 million. Half of those drugs cost between $12 million and $33 million for those trials.

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And those costs rose as trial demands rose – more patients, longer treatment durations, more complex endpoints. 

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In other words, a lot of what gets called “development cost” is inseparable from the regulatory maze.

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And there’s another big problem with the “they paid for it all” story.

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A huge share of the underlying science was funded by taxpayers in the first place.

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A 2023 JAMA Health Forum study found that NIH funding contributed to 354 of 356 drugs (over 99%) approved from 2010 to 2019 – totaling $187 billion in public funding. 

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The authors concluded that, on comparable accounting, NIH investment was at least equal to industry investment.

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In short, the public helps fund the science…

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Then gets charged monopoly prices on the back end in return.

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And when competition finally does break through, prices collapse – which tells you a lot about what was holding them up in the first place. 

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FDA analysis found that with four generic competitors, generic prices were about 79% lower than the brand price before generic entry. With six or more competitors, prices were more than 95% lower.

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That’s why companies fight so hard to keep competition out. 

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The FTC says “pay-for-delay” deals – where brand-name drug companies pay generic competitors to delay launching cheaper alternatives – cost consumers and taxpayers $3.5 billion a year in higher drug costs.

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That is not a free market.

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That is a government-protected racket.

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If you want the full breakdown of that loop – including the FDA, patents, lobbying, and the role of middlemen – I break it all down in the video below:

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So What Would a Real Free-Market Prescription for America’s Drug Market Look Like?

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Simple.

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Tear down the legal barriers that protect incumbents.

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Make it easier for competitors to enter.

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Stop using patents, FDA gatekeeping, and regulatory complexity to artificially restrict supply.

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Let more producers make more drugs and compete on price.

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That’s the actual cure.

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Not another government-imposed regulatory workaround.

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You can’t solve problems caused by overregulation with even more regulation.

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That’s like trying to untie a knot by pulling it tighter.

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And this pattern is not unique to healthcare.

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You see it in housing.

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Local governments restrict supply with zoning, permitting, density limits, and endless building rules.

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Prices go up and affordability collapses.

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Then politicians blame landlords, developers, or investors – and respond with more intervention.

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You see it in higher education.

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The government floods the system with subsidized loans.

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Tuition rises and students get buried in debt.

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Then politicians step in with debt relief, repayment gimmicks, and even more subsidies.

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You see it in childcare.

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Governments layer on staffing mandates, licensing rules, facility requirements, and all sorts of compliance costs that make childcare harder and more expensive to provide.

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Families get squeezed – and the political answer is more subsidies.

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It’s all the same pattern.

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First, the government distorts the market. Then the distortion creates pain. Then politicians show up with a second distortion and call it the solution.

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TrumpRx is part of the same thing.

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