NBC Information’ Kristen Welker on Wednesday requested Mehmet Oz — the previous speak present host and coronary heart surgeon who now runs the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies — about President Donald Trump’s repeated declare, mockingly dubbed “MAGA math,” that he’ll get pharmaceutical corporations to decrease drug costs by greater than 100%.
Welker aired a montage of Trump making the boasts, together with guarantees to slash prices “by 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 1,500%,” though, as critics have repeatedly identified, it could primarily make drugs free and even see individuals being paid to obtain them.
Then Welker requested Oz the apparent: “Slicing drug costs by 400%, something over 100%, wouldn’t that successfully make them free? Is {that a} real looking purpose from the president?”
Oz creatively replied: “The president does the calculation by saying, ‘OK, if a drug was $100 and also you cut back it to $50, it’s 100% cheaper since you’re taking $50 off and left with solely $50, so the quantity you took off the worth is the same as the quantity that’s left. They’re equal, so it’s 100%.’”
Welker identified that Trump has boasted about lowering drug costs by as much as 1,500%. Oz fired again: “Nicely, in the event you take a drug that’s $200 or $240 like we did final week and cut back it to $10, these are the numbers you’re speaking about.”
He then pivoted to speaking about how essential it was to scale back drug costs.
Watch from the 21-minute mark right here:
