Forget about an international pricing index for drugs. Cost-effectiveness is a better bargain

To make medicines more affordable, President Trump insists that “foreign freeloading” must end.

He complains that other wealthy countries often pay less for the same drugs while the U.S. is unfairly forced to shoulder higher costs of underwriting pharma R&D. So the administration is pushing a plan to cap what Medicare pays for certain medicines based on prices charged elsewhere. The idea is for Medicare to narrow that gap — and eventually lower costs by 30 percent.

This sounds pretty good, right? But in the long run, there might be a better approach.

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