JCN Cautions Against Placing More Government Price Controls on Medicine

Washington, D.C. (December 19, 2025)—This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new demo programs that will experiment with more government manipulation in the healthcare market. Although well-intentioned, the approach—nicknamed ‘Most Favored Nation’—doubles down on Biden-era government price controls that are having a chilling effect on medicine innovations and limiting patient options. 

“Free market competition and robust patient choice is what will deliver affordable drugs to Americans, not government bureaucrats,” said Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of the Job Creators Network. “Proposals that allow the federal government to micromanage private companies will instead zap innovation and the variety of medicines coming to market. Let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot.”

Republicans have already proposed alternative reforms that will genuinely address rising medicine costs without the unintended consequences of government tinkering in the free market. Correcting adverse incentives for pharmacy benefit managers and injecting more transparency into the drug supply chain are prime examples.

In a recent Main Street Matters podcast, Dr. Tom Price, the 23rd U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and former congressman, explained how the ‘Most Favored Nation’ policy focuses on the wrong problem. He notes that the “real solution is to make certain that other countries are paying their fair share…so our costs come down as opposed to bringing everybody down to the lowest common denominator.” 

Curbing European freeloading through trade deals and other voluntary agreements with companies is a smart path that President Trump is already pursuing. A trade deal blueprint announced in December is proof that the UK, for example, is taking steps to pay a fairer price for American-made medicines.