President Trump welcomes Mississippi’s Reeves, other governors to Oval Office for Medicaid announcement

• “All 50 states are participating in this opportunity to cut prescription drug costs at the state level in the Medicaid programs and that speaks to how big of a deal this is,” Governor Reeves said from the White House.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) joined President Donald Trump (R), cabinet officials and other state leaders at the White House on Friday as the administration announced a plan to lower prescription costs for Medicaid programs.

Every state Medicaid program in the nation now gets Most Favored Nation drug prices. According to the White House, that means all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are “unlocking nearly $65 billion in Medicaid drug savings over the next decade.” The plan aims to provide relief for low-income families, children, seniors, and the disabled.

Through Most Favored Nation pricing, the White House said 26 of the world’s largest drugmakers, covering 90% of the branded U.S. market, have agreed to bring U.S. prices in line with the lowest paid by comparable developed nations. These agreements are projected to save Americans more than $600 billion.

The Most Favored Nation pricing now being available for all 50 states is estimated to save Medicaid over $64 billion in the next decade while state governments could see a savings for nearly $28 billion.

“I’m pleased to announce that we’re launching this program with all 50 states – red and blue,” President Trump said in the Oval Office, thanking Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and the governors of Mississippi, South Dakota, and Arkansas in attendance for their work.

“Every state will now have those extra billions of dollars to invest in other healthcare improvements or something else,” Trump added. “This will help save Medicaid and protect it for future generations. Your medical costs will be coming down.”

The President also pointed to the “largest ever investment” made “by Republicans in Congress” into rural healthcare, saying, “I love rural… $50 billion to get rural communities and hospitals the support they need.” He noted that “every single Democrat in Congress voted against” the Rural Healthcare Transformation Fund.

When President Trump turned the floor over to Governor Reeves, the Mississippi chief executive thanked the administration for their work to improve healthcare and bring down drug prices.

“I just want just to put this in perspective. Our entirety of our state budget general fund is $7 billion. We spend almost $700 million a year in state and federal dollars on prescription drugs for our Medicaid program alone,” Reeves said. “This is a big deal.”

Governor Reeves continued, saying, “When we combine the ability of Mr. President to negotiate and give states the flexibility to operate, big things happen.”

“But look, you don’t have to believe me that this is a big deal, the three governors standing up here today agree on a lot of things. But if we put 50 governors in this room, I don’t think we could all agree that today was Friday,” Reeves said. “But all 50 states are participating in this opportunity to cut prescription drug costs at the state level in the Medicaid programs and that speaks to how big of a deal this is.”

“So, to Mr. President, to all of you involved, thank you very much for your work,” the governor added. “Today’s a great day for rural America, for rural Mississippi, and we thank you, Mr. President. Mississippi loves you.”

Trump responded by saying, “I love Mississippi, actually.”

The White House also promoted TrumpRx, noting that the program has put hundreds of millions back in patients’ pockets.

“The platform has delivered more than $700 million in savings and now covers more than 1,000 branded and generic medicines,” the administration shared. “GLP-1 drugs that once cost over $1,000 a month start as low as $149; eligible Medicare seniors pay just $50 a month, with more than 500,000 seniors already saving $216 million. Fertility drugs, inhalers, insulin, cholesterol treatments, and dozens of other high-cost drugs have been slashed 50–90% or more.”