19 May 2018 - The president’s proposals skirt the real reasons for high costs.

Populists often put their finger on problems that irk their countrymen. They also tend to come up with inadequate solutions to them. So it is with President Donald Trump’s plan, unveiled on 11 May, to lower the price of prescription drugs.

Drugs are more expensive in America than anywhere else. A month’s supply of Harvoni, which cures hepatitis C, costs $32,114 in America and $16,861 in Switzerland. Some cancer drugs can cost more than $150,000 a year. Mr Trump campaigned on a promise to reduce prices. He suggested that he would make it easier to import drugs from abroad and would force drug companies to lower prices for Americans, using the state’s bargaining power to save $300 billion a year—preposterous, given that this is almost the entire sum the government spends on drugs. Nevertheless, his promises may have helped Mr Trump win the support of the majority of older voters.

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