Prescription drug prices fell 3.1% over the 12 months ending in July, the steepest annual decline the Bureau of Labor Statistics has recorded since 1963. The White House is framing this as the payoff from its “most favored nation” pricing deals, which now cover 26 drugmakers and roughly 89% of the branded drug market. But the savings are not landing the same way for everyone paying for medicine in the United States. Here’s the actual breakdown by who you are and how you pay.
If you’re on Medicare and take one of the first 10 negotiated drugs, you’re already saving
Negotiated Medicare prices for the first batch of 10 popular prescription drugs took effect January 1, 2026, under the program created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Those drugs include common blood thinners and diabetes medications used by millions of Part D enrollees, and this group is the closest thing to a clear, already-realized winner. A second batch of 15 drugs, including the GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, has negotiated prices scheduled to take effect in 2027, not now, so anyone counting on those specific discounts this year is early.
If you’re on a state Medicaid program, the savings mostly help the budget, not your out-of-pocket cost
The nine additional drugmakers who signed most-favored-nation deals in late August, including Teva, Sun Pharma and CSL, agreed to sell to state Medicaid programs at the lowest price those companies charge in other wealthy countries. Analysts have pegged the fiscal benefit at roughly $8.6 billion a year in savings for Medicaid programs. Medicaid enrollees themselves typically already pay little to nothing out of pocket for covered drugs, so the direct effect for an individual patient is smaller than the headline number suggests. The money mostly relieves pressure on state budgets rather than showing up in a patient’s wallet.
If you’re uninsured or paying cash through TrumpRx, the discount is real but smaller than advertised
TrumpRx.gov, the federal site launched in February that routes cash-pay patients to manufacturer coupon programs, now lists roughly 40 branded medicines from drugmakers including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca. Patients search for a drug, print a coupon and present it at the pharmacy counter. Independent reporting has found that prices offered through the platform are frequently still higher than what patients in other wealthy countries pay for the same drugs, even after the coupon. If you’re uninsured, it’s worth checking TrumpRx before paying full retail, but don’t expect it to match the international price the administration cites in its announcements.
If you get insurance through an employer, this round of deals mostly bypasses you
The most-favored-nation agreements target Medicaid and, through TrumpRx, cash-pay consumers. They do not restructure the rebates and formulary pricing that pharmacy benefit managers negotiate on behalf of employer health plans, which cover roughly half of Americans. Your copay for a brand-name drug is still set by your plan’s PBM contract, not by the Medicaid price the manufacturer agreed to. Some of the broader price decline shows up here too, since generics and GLP-1 competition are pushing list prices down across the board, but the specific MFN deals aren’t the mechanism doing that for you.
If you work in pharmacy or drug manufacturing, the tariff trade-off matters more than the discount
In exchange for MFN pricing commitments, participating companies get a three-year suspension from tariffs the administration has threatened on pharmaceutical imports, along with encouragement to expand U.S. manufacturing. For workers at plants owned by companies like Teva or Sun Pharma, that tariff relief and any related U.S. investment is the part of the deal with the most direct bearing on their jobs, separate from what patients pay at the counter.
What this means if you’re just trying to afford your prescriptions this year
The 3.1% national decline is real and reflects more than politics. Generic competition and falling GLP-1 prices are doing a lot of the work alongside the negotiated Medicare prices already in effect. If you’re on Medicare Part D and take one of the 10 negotiated drugs, you should already be seeing it. If you’re uninsured, check TrumpRx and your pharmacy’s own discount card before assuming the platform has the best price. If you get insurance at work, the headline drop is happening around you more than because of the MFN deals specifically, and your best move is still comparing your plan’s formulary tier against a cash discount card at your pharmacy.
Sources: The Washington Post · STAT News · CNBC · Pharmacy Times · The White House
