The plan, known as the most-favored nations rule, would link government payments for medicines to lower prices paid abroad.

Current headline story by Sarah Owermohle & Dan Diamond @ Politico.com, Nov. 17

President Donald Trump has resurrected a long-delayed plan to slash drug prices, with advisers pitching him on an added benefit: It would hit an industry that Trump believes slow-walked coronavirus vaccine development until after the election.

The about-face came after Oval Office meetings last week where Trump railed against vaccine maker Pfizer for not revealing that its vaccine was more than 90 percent effective until after Election Day, according to three people familiar with the discussion.

Senior officials worked through the weekend to craft a version of the policy that Trump plans to announce as soon as Wednesday — positioning it as an interim final rule to leapfrog the months long process of releasing a draft and gathering public feedback.

The plan, known as the most-favored nations rule, would link government payments for medicines to lower prices paid abroad. It could cut Medicare drug payments by as much as 30 percent, lopping off a chunk of pharmaceutical companies’ profits in one of their largest customer pools.

It’s also part of a broader White House effort to deliver on Trump’s signature 2016 campaign pledges — [....]