For decades, Americans paid more for the same pills than patients in any other wealthy nation — and every president promised to fix it. Now, the White House is claiming that promise has finally been kept, with Secretary Kennedy declaring on Friday, July 31, 2026 that the Most Favored Nation drug pricing policy has made the United States home to the most affordable pharmaceuticals of any country in the world.

What Most Favored Nation Pricing Actually Does

The Most Favored Nation model ties what Medicare pays for drugs to the lowest prices paid by peer nations — a direct challenge to a pharmaceutical industry that has long charged American patients multiples of what European or Asian markets pay for identical medicines. The logic is blunt: if a drug costs $10 in Germany and $100 in the US, Medicare should not be paying the American price.

The policy has a contested history. The Trump administration first issued a Most Favored Nation interim final rule in November 2020, targeting Medicare Part B drug payments — the category covering physician-administered drugs like cancer infusions. That rule faced immediate legal challenges from pharmaceutical manufacturers and was never fully implemented before being withdrawn.

Kennedy's Claim and the Weight of Presidential History

Speaking on behalf of the administration, Secretary Kennedy drew a sharp contrast with his predecessors: 'Every President... have all promised to fix this, none of them did anything. You fixed it.' The statement is a direct rebuke of decades of legislative and executive attempts — from both parties — that stalled against pharmaceutical industry lobbying, court injunctions, and congressional gridlock.

The claim that the US now has drugs 'most affordable in this country of any country in the world' is sweeping. The United States has historically ranked among the highest-cost nations for prescription medicines, with Medicare beneficiaries often bearing the sharpest burden. Whether the current policy mechanics have delivered on that scale remains the central question that courts and implementation watchdogs will scrutinise.

What Industry and Courts Will Do Next

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have consistently challenged MFN-style rules, arguing they distort market incentives and threaten research investment. Any revised or newly implemented MFN model is likely to face fresh legal filings. The rollout mechanics — which drug categories are covered, how international benchmarks are calculated, and enforcement timelines — will determine whether the policy holds up or faces the same fate as the 2020 rule.

For the millions of Medicare patients who ration pills or skip refills because of cost, the stakes are not abstract. If the policy survives legal scrutiny and reaches full implementation, it would represent the most significant structural change to US drug pricing in a generation.