President Trump Participates in a Healthcare Affordability Event, May 18, 2026

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Well thank you very much, it's great to be here on this very beautiful day, a lot of very positive things happening. Less than four months ago I stood before you to announce the launch of the TrumpRX.gov, a brand new website featuring the largest discounts on prescription drugs in the history of our country, the history frankly of any country. And for decades Americans paid the highest drug prices anywhere in the world by far, but under the most favored nation agreements I negotiated we now pay the lowest price paid for anybody in any country. We went from the highest to the lowest and I think outside of maybe a cure itself it's the biggest thing to happen to healthcare and everything having to do with medical in any way, shape or form. There's never been anything like this. We think of it, we went from the most expensive to the least expensive. So we've slashed the price of dozens of commonly used prescription drugs by differences of 400, 500 and even 600%. In my first term I got it down 1/8 of 1% as the first time in 28 years it went down 1/8 of one and now we're talking about 4, 5 and 6 and even 700% including for weight loss drugs, fertility treatments, insulin and much much more. Since that launch in February, TrumpRX.gov has already been visited more than 10 million times and has saved American consumers over $400 million already and it's really the hottest thing in medicine. It's been amazing, I asked Dr. Oz how's it doing? Bobby was there, he said nobody's ever seen anything like this. So it's great, people are saving a lot of money. Over the next 10 years the Council of Economic Advisors estimates that our most favored nation drug policies will save Americans over $500 billion dollars. And this has been the greatest breakthrough in lowering healthcare costs in modern history, but we're just sort of getting started actually because we have a lot more to come. So today I'm thrilled to announce that we're increasing the number of drugs available on TrumpRX by nearly seven times adding over 600 affordable generics to the website working with industry partners. Cost-effective generic drugs are often available at just a tiny fraction of the price of their brand name equivalents and in theory they're the same thing, sometimes they're better, with the same dosage, the same effectiveness and the same active ingredients, yet many consumers do not think to ask for them, they don't know about them. By incorporating this massive catalog of low-cost generics at TrumpRX.gov, consumers will now have one source to ensure that they're getting the lowest possible cost on their prescription, so they have a real option now. Today they have something that they've never had before, they've never had anything like this or even close. With these additions, TrumpRX will feature the best and lowest prices on prescriptions used by tens of millions of Americans already and in some cases the discounted generics available through TrumpRX may be offered at an even lower cash price than the out-of-pocket insurance cost, which has always been the lowest, but we're going to be lower. This means that the TrumpRX.gov should always be your first stop before you go to the pharmacy to pick up your prescription and you'll certainly be checking on your pharmacy by doing this and at a minimum you'll know what you're supposed to be paying. I want to thank the leaders of several major pharmacies and generic drug makers who are partnering with us on this effort including the co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, Mark Cuban. Mark, thank you very much Mark, looking good Mark. Come here Mark. We have the same thing, one thing in common: we want to make people better and keep them wealthy, right? Good, good to be with you. Vice President of Amazon Pharmacy, Tanvi Patel. Thank you very much. And the President of RX Marketplace at GoodRX, Aaron Crittenden. Aaron, thank you very much, great job you're doing. With these companies as partners, we're also getting and adding new tools to takeover websites which will connect patients with the lowest price pharmacy right in their own neighborhood or alternatively give them the option of getting a discounted prescription shipped straight to their door, they can have it delivered right to their front door. This will provide American consumers with new options, more savings and unprecedented price transparency putting billions and billions of dollars back into the pockets of hardworking Americans. What a difference it's going to make at the end of a week. For generations drug prices have only gone up and under my administration for the first time in history drug prices are coming down and they are coming down very very dramatically and substantially. Politicians from both parties promised for decades to make healthcare more affordable but they all failed, every single one of them. And when they thought they had it, they couldn't get other countries to go along. I got all the other countries to come along. I said you don't come along we're going to tariff you and they all said we'd love to come along sir, but I'm actually getting it done and I don't care how I do it I gotta get it done for the people. I want to thank the incredible team behind this historic accomplishment including Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Bobby. Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz. What a team, what a team this is. And Chief Counselor of Health and Human Services, Chris Klomp. And I also especially have to thank the genius behind the world-class website that will soon be serving hundreds of millions of Americans, Airbnb co-founder and Chief Design Officer of the United States, Joe Gebbia, who's really amazing and Ed Coristein and the team at the National Design Studio, which is as good as you get. Under my America by Design executive order, Joe and his design team have been working to make your government more beautiful, more modern, convenient and effective. In addition to the TrumpRX website they've built the amazing experience behind TrumpAccounts.gov and the new food pyramid Freedom 250 and much more. They're doing a job for the country like I can say design-wise nobody has ever seen. So Joe please show us how TrumpRX is bringing the modern face to healthcare and really helping us to save lots of money and lots of lives. Joe please, thank you.

Thank you Mr. President. Thank you, thank you. In just months TrumpRX has accomplished what Washington said couldn't be done. Those numbers you shared represent huge savings at real scale for real Americans. And none of this would be possible without your leadership and your belief that Americans deserve better health. So today's great announcements of more drugs, more pharmacies and home delivery are making healthcare simpler and smarter for Americans. Let's go live to the new TrumpRX experience. So that $400 million dollars saved for Americans, that means better living and less stress for millions of families. So let's browse some of those medications. Immediately you'll see a new section called Presidential Deals. These are some of the most affordable brand name drugs in America made possible thanks to our President's legendary deal-making. So let's take a look at a few of these. This is Fandeo, the new GLP-1 pill, 77% off. This is insulin medication, 72% off. This is Trulicity, 61% off. These are life-saving, life-changing savings for millions of Americans. Now search also got smarter too. You can now look up brand name drugs and see the generic version. Let's try a brand drug named Glucophage. It's for diabetes and it costs around $20. So search now shows the lower cost option, Metformin. Metformin has the same active ingredients, but now watch this, the price, $8.42. So you found an affordable price, now where do you get it? You can find your trusted pharmacy in one search. Watch how easy this is. I'll use mine, Capsule Pharmacy. Boom, there it is. Now we also created another way to find the best price, introducing Map Search. For the first time you can see chain and local independent pharmacies on the same map. So here's my location. I see an option here at a pharmacy for $18 and a block away $8.42. Now you can compare for the best medicine prices as easy as it is to compare hotels or Airbnbs or baseball tickets. This is simple, transparent healthcare pricing. So when I find what I'm looking for I take this coupon, show it to the pharmacist and I get the TrumpRX price. That simplicity is why TrumpRX has taken off nationwide. Okay there's one more thing. Today we added new partners for fast home prescription delivery. I can actually get this medicine to my door in a day or so. So from search to savings to satisfaction, this is healthcare built for modern life. You compare prices on flights, why not medicine? Don't just fill your prescription, TrumpRX it. Because the strongest nation on earth, America, starts with the healthiest people on earth. Mr. President, back to you.

Thank you Joe. Great job, beautiful. Well thank you very much, really amazing the job you've done and so quickly. Now I'd like to ask Secretary Kennedy to say a few words and Dr. Oz and Mark Cuban and Chris Klomp and we'll take a couple of questions maybe at the end. Thank you. Bobby please.

Thank you Mr. President. The epidemic of chronic disease in this country is now existential. If you include my agency plus Social Security and the VA, Americans now spend 48 cents out of every dollar that we spend in federal taxes now go to healthcare. 90% of that is for chronic disease and those costs are increasing at 2% a greater speed than the GDP. In addition to that it poses a an existential threat to our national security. 77% of American kids cannot qualify for military service. President Trump has pledged to end the chronic disease epidemic, but in the meantime many people need medications to treat their chronic disease and President Trump has asked us to make this our country the most affordable medication in the world and he succeeded in doing that. And I want to say one last thing. President Bush promised to do this, President Clinton promised to do it, President Biden promised to do it, President Obama promised to do it, President Trump actually got it done and it's an extraordinary accomplishment, it's an extraordinary legacy for him and it's a gift to the American people and I want to thank you again for your vision and for your determination. Dr. Oz.

This is yet another example of this administration under the President's leadership making life more affordable and it's in a particularly important arena because almost one in three Americans when they go to a drugstore cannot afford to pick up the medications that their doctor prescribed for them. And part of the reason for that, which the President recognized early on and pushed hard until it got done because it was the force of his personality that allowed us to go to all the major pharmaceutical companies representing the vast majority of the marketplace of branded drugs in America. But what he realized was we're paying three times more for the exact same drugs made in the same facilities, often in this country, than people overseas are paying for those exact same drugs. Whether it's weight loss drugs, fertility drugs, you name it, we're overpaying for it. President wanted that stopped, he wanted it stopped now and so he did it. The most favored nation drug pricing approach works using a variety of techniques that he outlined, but we needed to make sure you had an ability to access these drugs. TrumpRX.gov is a phenomenon. Over 10 million people have visited the site, it is the fastest site of its kind I've ever seen as a physician who's used to looking at medications and having no idea what the patient will pay, it's as transparent as you just saw built by the fantastic team with Joe Gebbia. They have added, they started with dozens of medications Mr. President, which is the number of medications that had been negotiated by Chris Klomp and the team at HHS. Today 601 more medications were added, 601 more. As the President said seven times more drugs are now in this system which means something really important: you should not buy a drug in America without first checking the best transparency site ever created for medications to make sure you're not being taken advantage of. You wouldn't go grocery shopping without knowing prices, you wouldn't buy a car without knowing prices, lease an apartment or anything else, you shouldn't do it with the medications that could save your life. We believe that more than half of all the prescription interactions in America are now going to be revealed on TrumpRX if you wish to use the site in any capacity. This is a time to start, it's a technological feat, it's created transparency with no middlemen, just what the President promised. And for that reason we ask you today go look at the site TrumpRX.gov, ask us to put you on our mailing list so when the team at the National Design Studio wants to contact you about new medications that are being offered, new ways for you to save money, new ways for you to make health more affordable so your zip code doesn't determine your health, you'll have TrumpRX.gov to go to. Mark Cuban has been an outspoken advocate for more transparency in medications, he built a business around it and he's one of the companies that's joining us now to put their products on TrumpRX.gov. Mark.

Thank you for having me Mr. President. I think other than you I've been the biggest proponent of TrumpRX.com. And the reason for that is Republicans want cheaper drugs, independents want cheaper drugs, Democrats want cheaper drugs and together I think we're going to do something special. What makes Cost Plus Drugs different is that when you click through TrumpRX to our site, not only will you see a great price, but you'll see our actual cost and that we only mark it up 15%. And what makes this incredible Mr. President, all the volume and all the people that are going to come from the site, as our volumes go up our costs go down, which means we'll be ending up charging less to people over a period of time. So this is a special announcement, this is a special partnership. 559 of those drugs are ours so we're really excited to be part of this. Thank you so much for having me and I'll turn it over to Chris Klomp.

So you've just heard about the addition of generic medications on TrumpRX which is fantastic. TrumpRX is now the true single source of truth for the lowest prices for American families on their prescription medications. But what matters even more is what comes next. So we are on an irreversible trajectory and American family right now taking a GLP-1 will save this year right now about $1800 less than they would have four months ago before the advent of TrumpRX.gov. An American family trying to conceive and needing fertility medications will save nearly $6000 per live birth right now thanks to TrumpRX.gov. That's nearly $5 billion dollars going to the pockets of hopeful parents over the next decade. So how do we achieve this? By proving that in America you can do well by doing good. TrumpRX has created a revolutionary vehicle for a true public-private partnership. Private innovators are stepping up to the plate and they're doing it not just because it's the right business decision but it's the right moral decision. So to accelerate this process we will continue focusing on three things, the same three things we talked about you in our last conversation on most favored nation pricing led by the President. First, we continue to bring additional industry partners on board. Last time we had a conversation with you about MFN we put out a call to small and mid-sized biotechnology manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies to come sit with us to make their product portfolios available at MFN prices. We said that we would be fair and we would be reasonable and the industry has answered that call. We've been inundated with demand for discussions to ensure that every American family can continue to access MFN prices, not just for the companies that have been negotiated but for the many that are yet to come. Number two, as the President mentioned, we are continuing to negotiate international trade agreements. Those are well underway working lockstep with our partners at Trade and at Commerce. And number three, legislation. We are continuing discussions on the Hill with Congress to ensure that the President's great healthcare plan lasts for decades to come guaranteeing greater affordability, greater accountability, greater transparency for every American family. It turns out as Mark said there is appetite on both sides of the aisle to make progress on this important point. When a parent goes to the pharmacy they're not thinking about political ideology, they're thinking about what's best for their family. And today leaders across the spectrum irrespective of their party are standing together because Americans demand affordable healthcare and it's an American imperative. This President has set us on a course to permanently benefit from lower drug prices as a country. The foundation is built, the market is engaged, the future is affordable and I yield the podium back to the man who made all this possible. Thank you Mr. President.

Would you like to say something? You're over there, you look so beautiful and nice. And you too, come on over here, just say a couple of words about...

Thank you. Thank you Mr. President for having Amazon here today. It's really great to work with the administration in the NDS on building TrumpRX at Amazon Pharmacy. It's been our mission to build a pharmacy with price transparency from day one and it's been our mission to make sure that Americans who need their medications know how much they're going to pay out of pocket for brand or generic medications. It's what we're built around whether you're paying cash or insurance. And we look forward to continuing to innovate on this. Thank you. Thank you very much.

I'm going to move this up just slightly. Thank you for having us on behalf of GoodRX. Look, we have shared mission as everyone up here to deliver healthcare that's affordable to every American, we couldn't be prouder by what you're doing and be a part of it. So thanks so much.

Well thank you very much. Any questions of these brilliant, these brilliant people? Yeah please, go ahead. Go ahead. Yes. The white, yes.

What can you tell us about the shooting at the mosque in San Diego? Mr. President, on the IRS...

They're giving a briefing on it a little bit later at the mosque, they're giving a briefing and it's a terrible situation. I've been given some early updates but we're going to be going back and looking at it very strongly. Yeah please.

Just one because $1.7 billion that the IRS is now going to... excuse me, can you speak a little about your post on Truth Social on Iran and what was the decision that why you didn't attack?

Well other countries have come to me and they've said we were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow and I've put it off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever but possibly for a little while because we've had very big discussions with Iran and we'll see what they amount to. I was asked by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and some others if we could put it off for two or three days, a short period of time because they think that they are getting very close to making a deal and if we can do that where there's no nuclear weapon going into the hands of Iran I think and if they're satisfied we will be probably satisfied also. We've informed Israel, we've informed other people in the Middle East that have been involved with us and you know it's a very positive development, but we'll see whether or not it amounts to anything. We've had periods of time where we had we thought pretty much getting close to making a deal and didn't work out, but this is a little bit different. Now we were ready going tomorrow very big and not something I wanted to do but we have no choice because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Yeah please.

Mr. President, Justice Department has this new fund that was announced today $1.7 billion. Why should taxpayers pay for the January 6th...

Well it's been very well received I have to tell you. I know very little about it, I wasn't involved in in the whole creation of it and the negotiation but this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated. It's anti-weaponization, they've been weaponized. They've been in some cases imprisoned wrongly. They've paid legal fees that they didn't have, they've gone bankrupt, their lives have been destroyed. And they turned out to be right. I mean it's was a terrible period of time in the history of our country and they worked on it, I know the Justice Department it's really been working on it very strenuously. There's been numerous other occasions over the years where things like this have been done but these were people that were weaponized and really treated brutally by a system that was so corrupt with corrupt people running it and they're getting reimbursed for their legal fees and the other things that they had to suffer. Yeah please, Daniel go ahead. Daniel please.

Thank you Mr. President. It's pretty remarkable seeing you and Mark Cuban up there and the fact that obviously Mark endorsed Kamala Harris back in 2024...

Well he made a mistake, it was a big mistake.

What does this say about what you two are building here, the importance...

Well it says we love people, we love our country, he wants to he's got a good company and he's going to do a lot of business with us and I'm going to get drugs out through Amazon, through the whole group and we're going to get drugs out and Mark wanted to be a part of it. And I think Mark was very gracious, he said this is something that really works, the first time you've seen it. And he had to believe that if he said it about me, you have to understand that. But look, I think I have a lot of respect for Mark frankly and I always have. And then sir... Go ahead, Ebola. Ebola, yes you said Ebola.

Should Americans be concerned about Ebola?

We're concerned about everything, but certainly I am, I think that you know it's been confined right now to Africa and but it's something that has had a breakout. I could ask Bobby or Oz to say a couple of words about it if you'd like, you want to do that? I think Heidi Overton is going to come up and give us a few words. Dr. Overton.

Thank you Mr. President. Today the CDC held a press briefing that provided a lot of the answers and information but we have stood up a full inter-agency response. The Department of State, the CDC, the Department of War, everyone is fully involved and tracking this. Today we do have an announcement today at the press briefing, there is an American that is symptomatic and has tested positive for... it's the Bundibugyo virus, a strain of Ebola. That American as well as six other high-risk contacts are going to be taken out of that region and taken to Germany. We want to thank our our German counterparts. That is an internationally recognized location for viral hemorrhagic fever treatments, so we're very grateful that they would take them, it's a significantly shorter flight time for Americans to to receive treatment there in Germany. For all other Americans we have issued travel warnings, we have we have instituted just today entry restrictions for non-US citizens that are that have been in the region in the past 21 days. So in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. So very serious measures that have been taken. We are working to communicate very frequently with everyone. Your question was should Americans be worried? Right now there are no cases of Ebola in America. We want to keep it that way and we are doing everything we can to support Americans in the region. Thank you Mr. President.

A follow up on Iran. Other countries have done this before, they have asked you to change course in order to do they dangled a peace deal in front of you saying one was coming, nothing has come into fruition. You mentioned this...

Well lots come into fruition. We've taken a country that was going to have a nuclear weapon and we've virtually destroyed its military, they have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they've in every they've been virtually destroyed militarily. That's a lot, that's a big we could leave right now would take them 25 years to rebuild. And the last thing they're thinking about I think is nuclear now they have to put it down in writing, but when you say nothing we've we've totally destroyed excuse me from CNN we've totally destroyed their military, we've destroyed their leadership as you know their leaders are gone, their leaders are gone at the first level, the second level we're dealing with half of the third level. And I think we've made a lot of progress. And it's very simple, you know we don't want to go through this, we had the greatest economy ever, we still do, the stock market hit a brand new high a little while ago. I never thought that was going to happen, we had to make the excursion you know we hit 50,000 on the Dow, we hit 7,000 on the S&P and everyone said that couldn't be done within my four years, it would be too too big. Well we did it in my first year and then I called Scott and Howard, I called them all into my office, I say we're going to take a little excursion down to the Middle East and we're going to confront Iran because they are desperate to have a nuclear weapon and the only reason they want it is to use it. And I said it's I hate to do this because we're doing so well, but this is the most important thing we can do, we can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. So we did that and when we did that we were met with a little force and we ended up destroying them. We now have a a tremendous we've built really a steel wall where no boats the blockade where no boats are able not one boat has been able to get through our blockade. Look our military is the greatest military anywhere in the world. I just left China and I will say President Xi was very very complimentary of our military. He was amazed actually at our military. We have the greatest military in the world. We're not going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon. So I was called by these three countries plus others and they're dealing directly with our people and right now Iran and there seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out. If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them I'd be very happy. Please.

I have a question on weaponization. Do you believe that people who committed violence against Capitol Hill police officers on January 6th should be eligible for compensation from this DOJ fund and are you or your family members going to be seeking compensation from that fund?

It'll all be dependent on a committee, a committee is being set up of very talented people, very highly respected people. I think it's a committee of five and again I didn't do this deal, it was told to me yesterday. They said they're doing something, I do believe there has to be compensation for people that were destroyed. You have families absolutely destroyed and it's all going to be determined by a committee of four or five people that are respected and very brilliant at what they do. Yeah please, go ahead. No no, one at a time please. In the blue, yeah.

Thank you Mr. President. On election integrity. So a lot of Republicans including you are speaking out against the massive mail-in ballot error in Maryland's primary. How concerned are you about election integrity as Americans are heading into the midterms?

I'm very concerned about it. I'm very concerned about mail-in ballots. We're the only country in the world that's doing mail-in ballots and mail-in ballot is by just the nature of it it's going to be corrupt, so many people handle it. You go into a well-run voting booth in a certain state, you'll pick a state, but you go into and I mean they look even me I went in Florida and went to vote and they said sir I hate to do I'm so embarrassed, could I see your identification? I said really? Do you really want to do that? Please sir, I'll lose my job if I don't do it. I very I was very proud to hand her identification and everything else. I mean you want to have proof of citizenship, you want to have a voter ID, you want to have all these things. But to me maybe the worst of all is the mail-in ballots where they come in. So in as you know in Maryland 500,000 fake ballots were sent out. When they were caught they said oh we'll pull them back and they issued 500,000 new ballots and as you know they never got the original ballots back. So there are a million ballots out there, many of them went to Democrats and it's a very serious thing. And I'll tell you I've looked at Maryland for a long time and I know Maryland pretty well and I was told that it's automatically a Democrat state and I don't believe that because I think I did really well there and I don't believe it. But they issued as you just got caught recently 500 500,000 ballots, illegal ballots were sent out and they were totally fraudulent. And then they said oh we'll pull them back, well they didn't pull them back and they have 500,000 new ballots go. So what happens to the original? Are they going to come in and are they going to come in and infect our system? So it's a very very serious thing that's happened and I've asked the law enforcement to look at it very very strenuously. I want to thank you all, this is so we're so proud of it and I want to thank Bobby and Oz and Mark and all of the people that are here and Joe great job, you are really something. I heard about you for a long time and now you're doing something that's more important than anything you've ever done and you've done some beauties. Thank you very much Joe. Thank you very much everybody, appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.