Fact Check: Will Trump's Order Drop the Prices of Insulin to "Pennies a Day?"

U.S President Donald Trump signed executive orders on July 24 and stated that the executive orders are the solutions for Americans who struggle to pay the current prices of prescription drugs.

President Trump told his crowd of supporters and numerous reporters at the ceremony that under the executive order, the price of insulin for all patients will come down to just "pennies a day", he added that it was a massive cost saving.

Will insulin be pennies a day?

Numerous news outlets such as The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that the signing event was treated like it was symbolic since the executive orders are not going to take effect this year yet.

Meanwhile, CNSNews and Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire, which are known as conservative media outlets, reported on President Trump's pledge to decrease the prices on prescription drugs at face value and they highlighted Trump's speech at the event.

Because of this confusion, the site Snopes investigated the claims, on whether the liberal side is correct by saying that Trump's executive orders will not take effect this year or whether the conservative side is correct in saying that it will.

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Numerous diabetic patients are now waiting on when the orders will take effect as they would indeed pay less for insulin cartridges and insulin syringes as soon as the executive order takes place.

In September 2019, a Congressional analysis posted that insulin averaged $34.75 per dose in the United States, and the price is almost three times higher than the average price of insulin in other countries.

President Trump did issue Executive Order on Access to Affordable Life-saving Medications on July 24. He signed the order and it authorized the Department of Health and Human Services or HHS to make changes on the cost of EpiPens for all Americans who need it, the cost of insulin is also included in the price changes.

Insulin prices in the United States have increased dramatically in the past few years. Although Americans with severe allergies and diabetes have access to affordable EpiPens and insulin because of Federal programs and commercial insurance such as Medicaid and Medicare, a lot of Americans still can't buy the products.

The truth

With President Trump's directive pertained to FQHC or federally qualified health centers, which are around 1,400 community health care clinics across the United States that treat patients from low-income households on sliding fee scales and purchase discounted drugs from pharmaceutical companies under 340B which is an existing federal program.

This means that President Trump's order requires the participants of the 340B Program to offer insulin at reduced prices to patients with little insurance coverage or no insurance coverage.

A news site for health care providers, Advisory Board, said in a statement that only those from low incomes, those with high cost-sharing requirements for EpiPens or insulin, those with high deductibles and those without health insurance would be eligible for discount.

While it was true that President Trump issued an executive order that was intended to lower the price of prescription drugs for Americans, it was misleading to say that insulin would cost "pennies a day" and that it is not for everyone as it would only target patients from low-income households and those who are uninsured.