“Most Favored Nation” Drug Pricing Policy Threatens Access, Increases Discrimination, and Undercuts Efforts to Make America Healthy

August 1, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s most recent efforts to impose “Most Favored Nation” (MFN) drug pricing, which poses considerable risks to patient access, particularly to people living with one or more chronic diseases.

“More than one in two adults in the U.S. lives with at least one chronic condition and nearly one in three live with two or more chronic conditions. As such, chronic diseases are the primary driver of health care costs—accounting for 90 cents of every dollar we spend on health care in this country. The burden of chronic disease is clearly one of the costliest challenges we face as a nation and must be a top priority for policy reform.

“With that top of mind, PFCD strongly opposes the Administration’s latest efforts to call for MFN pricing and warns that tying U.S. drug prices to foreign price controls would limit patient access to life-saving treatments, stifle medical innovation, and disproportionately harm those with chronic conditions.

“While intended to reduce drug prices, an MFN policy would import foreign price controls from countries that use discriminatory pricing measures like the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) to ration health care. These types of cost-effectiveness measures systematically devalue the lives of seniors, people with disabilities, and those with chronic diseases to deny them access to the treatment their doctors recommend.

“Added concerns about how MFN policies would negatively impact people living with chronic disease include:

• Delays and Denials of Care: Countries the MFN policy seeks to emulate routinely ration care, leaving patients waiting years for access to innovative treatments, if they ever get access at all.

• Ethical Risks of Foreign Price Controls: MFN would allow foreign governments to dictate what treatments are available to American patients, undermining patient and provider choice.

• Provider Reimbursement Cuts: MFN’s slashing of reimbursement rates would force providers, particularly in rural and underserved communities, to reduce or eliminate participation in public health plans, further shrinking access for vulnerable populations.

• Stifling U.S. Medical Innovation: Pegging U.S. prices to foreign benchmarks erodes incentives to develop the next generation of cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other chronic diseases.

• Threats to Personalized Medicine and Equitable Care for All Who Need It: MFN prioritizes cost over care, hitting minority populations and patients with complex chronic conditions hardest by limiting treatment options.

  
  

“PFCD urges policymakers to reject MFN and pursue more patient-focused solutions to address rising out-of-pocket costs, like reining in PBMs and insurers. To truly make America healthy, policymakers should seek to expand access to affordable medicines without compromising care quality, innovation, or patient choice.”

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