Europe must pay more for drug research

President Donald Trump has been hard at work for the last seven months making sure that America returns to being a strong presence on the world stage, and the benefits are already being seen. Countries around the world are thinking twice about taking advantage of Americans, whether it be working against our interests around the world or taking advantage of us with unfair trade practices.

Just in the last few weeks, President Trump has achieved both fairer trade terms from Europe and a commitment to spend more of their budget toward military defense. No longer will Americans bear the brunt of Europe’s defense and economic growth.

However, there is one more way that European countries take advantage of American citizens that must be addressed — pharmaceutical innovation and drug pricing.

Europe’s socialized medical systems would not be possible without the United States. American pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars a year on the research and development of drugs that treat previously untreatable medical conditions or work more effectively on ailments that impact people across the globe. These advancements are shared with the rest of the world, and in return, European countries engage in price-fixing policies that force drug companies to sell to them far below market rates. These losses need to be made up for elsewhere, and far too often, everyday Americans end up footing the bill.

Some policymakers in Washington, D.C. have started talking about adopting the same price-fixing policies that socialized medical systems in Europe use. It’s understandable, as prescription prices in the United States have been steadily increasing to the point of near unaffordability.

However, adopting these policies would stifle further medical research and lead to catastrophically worse health outcomes but in the U.S. and across the world. America’s position as the global leader in patient outcomes and medical innovation would disappear, and the world would become sicker for it.

Instead of adopting failed policies that go against our long-standing free market principles, President Trump must make it clear to Europe that Americans will no longer subsidize their health care. The United States only accounts for 38% of the GDP of high-income OECD countries, but we generate 60% of the spending on new, innovative medicines. That’s akin to a 26% tax that Americans pay to subsidize the rest of the world.

If President Trump and Republicans in D.C. want to tackle the drug pricing epidemic, we need to continue making it clear to the rest of the world that their free ride is over.

Their socialized health policies such as price fixing have damaged their medical innovation and forced the U.S. to shoulder this burden alone because we still strive to improve the lives of our people. We should not abandon our duty and follow in their footsteps, instead we should encourage Europe to follow in ours.

Republican State Rep. Steve Bradley represents House District 66, including Jones, most of Jackson and a portion of Van Buren counties. He is a practicing dentist in Cascade.