The White House is considering one or more executive orders aimed at lowering drug prices that could come as soon as this week, prompting pushback from some GOP lawmakers and the powerful pharmaceutical industry.
One idea under discussion, sources say, is to link some U.S. drug prices to the lower prices paid overseas, an idea that is opposed by many Republicans, who see it as a price control that violates free-market principles.
The looming executive action comes a little more than three months from the election, on an issue that is key to voters. Democrats have been pounding Republicans on the issue of health care, pointing to a President Trump-backed lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act, and executive action on drug prices could be a way for Trump to try to counter on the issue.