...
By Gabe Whisnant and Dan Gooding
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday that President Donald Trump uses a “different way” of calculating percentages, offering an explanation for the president’s claims about sharp prescription drug price cuts.
Speaking during a U.S. Senate hearing, Kennedy said Trump has described that "TrumpRx," a federal government website designed to provide Americans with discounted prices on brand-name prescription drugs, cuts the price of a $600 drug to $10 as a “600% reduction."
Kennedy, who appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday morning, said “President Trump has a different way of calculating, there’s two ways of calculating percentages. If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that’s a 600 percent reduction.” He acknowledged that Trump's math departs from standard calculations.
Read More on U.S.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts pushed back on that framing, noting that under conventional arithmetic the price drop Kennedy described would amount to a reduction of about 98 percent.
Warren said using inflated percentage figures could mislead patients about the actual savings they might see, pressing administration officials to clarify how drug pricing claims are calculated and communicated to the public.
"Which I think means companies should be paying you to take their drugs," Warren quipped about Trump's "600 percent" calculations.
On Thursday, Kennedy mentioned his exchange with Warren during an Oval Office announcement with Trump about lowering the cost of prescription drugs. The HHS Secretary said, "A Democratic senator claimed it's mathematically impossible to have a drug drop by 600%. I said, 'Well, if the drug was $100 and it raises to $600, that would be a 600% rise. If it drops from $600 to $100, that's a 600% savings.'"
Trump smiled and replied, “That’s right.”
Kennedy continued, "The president used that mathematical device to illustrate he magnitude of the theft that has been happening to our country and our people."
Invalid URL:
What Is TrumpRx?
Trump has aggressively promoted his administration’s “Trump Rx” initiative as a breakthrough in lowering prescription drug costs, frequently touting what he describes as unprecedented price reductions.
Trump Rx centers on a government‑run website that directs patients to discounted prices negotiated with pharmaceutical manufacturers under so‑called “most favored nation” agreements, which aim to align U.S. prices with the lowest paid in other developed countries.
The administration says the program allows consumers, particularly those paying cash or facing high out‑of‑pocket costs, to access brand‑name medications at sharply lower prices without using insurance.
...
Has the Trump Administration Cut Prescription Drug Prices?
Since unveiling the program early this year, Trump has told supporters and lawmakers that drug prices are falling by “300, 400, 500, even 600 percent,” language he has repeated in speeches, social media posts and White House events highlighting the effort.
A fact check by The Associated Press (AP) in August 2025 found that to be false, saying that if drug prices had been reduced by more than 100 percent, patients would be getting paid to take the medications.
“I find it really difficult to translate those numbers into some actual estimates that patients would see at the pharmacy counter,” Mariana Socal, an associate professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University who studies the U.S. pharmaceutical market, told AP at the time.
During Wednesday's hearing, Warren accused the Trump administration of misleading consumers, pointing to one drug available on TrumpRx for $200, compared to $16 at Costco.
Kennedy said Congress had more power to negotiate savings than HHS, telling Warren: "We did this because you refused to do it."
Warren refuted that, telling him: "They’ve got a 1 out of 4 chance of paying more at TrumpRx than they would if they went to Costco."
Democrats on the finance committee remained skeptical of the deals the Trump administration made with drug manufacturers to sell their products through TrumpRx, with Warren alleging that they made millions in tariff relief by working with the website.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, ranking member on the committee, pressed Kennedy on publishing the written agreements with pharmaceutical companies. The secretary said he would not.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines