President Donald Trump made a stunning, mathematically impossible claim during a nationally televised press event at the White House.
Trump took questions from reporters Friday evening after an announcement on lowering prescription drug prices, during which he made a claim that would essentially mean Americans will be paid many times over to accept prescription drugs, in some cases 100 times more than the cost of the drugs:
And I tell the story, Glenn, that in my first term, I had the honor of being the first president in 28 years to lower drug prices during the course of the year. And we actually did. And I was so proud of myself. We called a news conference. I announced it. It was one-eighth of 1 percent. One-eighth of 1 percent. Now drug prices are going to be going down 100 percent, 400 percent, 600 percent, a thousand percent in some cases. But for one-eighth of a cent, Bobby, think of that. I was so proud because for 28 years, nobody had done it. And now it’s, I think back to that, I said I shouldn’t have had that news conference. But it’s just true. I was the only one that did it, but it was not very much. And now we’re going to get, in some cases, a thousand percent reduction.
This is going to have a huge impact on everything from Social Security to Medicare to Medicaid. Anything where they’re buying any prescription drugs, it’s going to have an incredible impact. It’s going to lower itself greatly.
Aside from the fundamental fallacy in Trump’s remarks — multiple fact-checking outlets have pointed out this is not how percentages work — what’s stunning is that the president has been making this claim for months, on at least five occasions, without correcting himself. In August, he said he had cut prices by 1,500 percent.
Yahoo News – Latest News & Headlines
Read the full article .
