Survey: Readers Convinced Drug Prices Are Too High, Less Sure How to Lower Them

President Donald Trump instituted a Most Favored Nation policy in May that requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to align U.S. prescription drug prices with those in comparably developed nations.

In July, the president informed the leaders of 17 large pharmaceutical companies that he expected their compliance with the policy within 60 days or face “additional aggressive action” by his administration.

In the meantime, Trump is proposing tariffs on prescription drugs.

“We'll be putting a, initially, small tariff on pharmaceuticals,” Trump said in an interview on CNBC. “But in one year, one and a half years maximum, it’s going to go to 150 percent, and then it’s going to go to 250 percent because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country.”

We asked readers to weigh in on drug prices, tariffs, and the possibility of reshoring the manufacture of prescription medications.

We found that fewer readers hold strong opinions on many of these questions, and a higher than usual proportion expressed neutrality on the matter.

First, here are the issues that provoked a relatively strong reaction.

Pharmacy Benefit Managers and Trump’s Price Reduction Plan

The vast majority of respondents agreed that pharmacy benefit managers are keeping drug prices high.

These companies, which act as middlemen in the insurance system, were seen as significant contributors to high drug prices by 86 percent of respondents. About 61 percent felt strongly about that.

Just 7 percent of respondents disagreed.

Medications are stored on shelves at a pharmacy in Los Angeles on May 12, 2025. Eric Thayer/Getty Images

Readers also felt strongly about Trump’s overall strategy for lowering prices, a combination of policy measures aimed at coaxing manufactures to lower prices combined with tariffs on imports.

More than three quarters of respondents, 77 percent, agreed with the plan. Some 45 percent felt strongly positive about it. Just 10 percent were opposed.

Readers also agreed that other countries are able to keep prices low by negotiating with drug makers as a single payer, leveraging their buying power.

Pretty Sure About Tariffs and Price Negotiations

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Readers felt mostly positive about tariffs and price negotiations as viable ways to bring costs down.

Exactly three-quarters of respondents favored having federal authority to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies, with 54 percent feeling strongly about it.

As for tariffs, most respondents, 59 percent, seemed willing to accept the short-term pain believing it will produce long-term gain in price reduction.

Here, though, the certainty began to waver as 25 percent of respondents were neutral on the matter.

As to whether tariffs could have the negative effect of worsening drug shortages, 31 percent were neutral.

Less Certainty on Other Matters

Readers were neutral in far greater numbers on questions related to some specifics of Trump’s plan and their possible effect.

Well more than a third, 38 percent, of respondents professed neutrality about whether Trump’s Most Favored Nation Prescription Drug Pricing approach will actually lower U.S. prices—or simply cause drug makers to raise prices overseas.

(L-R) National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary stand together after Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing the cost of prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals by 30 percent to 80 percent during an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 12, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Opinion was almost evenly split among others, with 32 percent thinking it probably will cause a rise in foreign prices and 30 percent thinking it won’t.

Readers overall were also unsure what to think about whether reshoring drug production would require a huge rebuilding effort given the multiple stages involved and existing global supply chain.

Again, 38 percent were neutral on the question with opinion split on both sides, 34 percent thinking it probably would take a huge effort and 28 saying it probably wouldn’t.

Don’t Know About Research and Production Costs

Opinions were most evenly distributed on questions related to the impact of price reductions on the cost. No option garnered more than 26 percent of responses.

Readers were similarly split on the question of whether the government price-setting used in other nations would work here, in a market-based system. Thirty-one percent were neutral with other opinions nearly equal.

As to whether high drug prices are justified by the research and regulatory considerations, the level of investment needed to bolster U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing, and the value of tax incentives over tariffs for inducing investment in the United States, fewer than 20 percent of respondents had a strong opinion on either side.