Free Market Economic Leaders Launch “Most Favored Patient” Initiative
Free Market Economic Leaders Launch “Most Favored Patient” Initiative to Put American Patients First & Lower Health Care Costs
Unleash Prosperity Now’s Stephen Moore, Dr. Tomas J. Philipson & Steve Forbes Release New Survey Data and Unveil Policy Blueprint for Needed Accountability, Competition and Transparency (ACT) Reforms
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, leading free market economists announced the launch of the Most Favored Patient (MFP) Healthcare Initiative, a project of Unleash Prosperity Now. The initiative, guided by President Donald Trump’s vision for lower costs for families and better patient care, is built around a bold policy agenda that champions needed Accountability, Competition, and Transparency (ACT) reforms without abandoning conservative free-market principles, or importing foreign price controls.
Additionally, the leaders unveiled new polling data from McLaughlin & Associates that shows several ACT health care reforms are winning issues with the public by enormous margins.
MFP’s leaders believe President Trump and conservatives in Congress have already put forth a number of reforms that can and should be implemented. Those reforms, along with some additional proposals, will help achieve lower costs and better care without the need for access restrictions and market-distorting drug price controls used in countries with socialized medicine.
“The Most Favored Patient reforms we are promoting would bring down drug prices, ensure biomedical supremacy, and save lives,” said Stephen Moore, co-founder of Unleash Prosperity Now and co-leader of the MFP initiative. “Everyone should be in favor of that.”
The Most Favored Patient Blueprint outlines specific policy solutions to:
Allow direct-to-consumer sales of medicines to bypass insurer-PBM middlemen fees
End foreign free riding on American innovation, manufacturing, and labor
Require foreign countries to pay their fair share for brand drugs through a NATO-style agreement
Safeguard U.S. economic and national security from adversaries like China
Eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse that harm taxpayers and patients
Lower patient costs while improving the quality of health care they receive
“Ultimately, a shared goal is for American patients to benefit from a health care system that continually produces new lifesaving treatments alongside the competition that ultimately makes them cheaper, and the incentives needed to ensure they are developed in the U.S.,” said Dr. Tomas J. Philipson, former Trump White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair and co-leader of the MFP initiative. “This initiative aims to help President Trump and other government officials implement a collective policy agenda to that end.”
Key findings from a new public opinion survey of 1,000 likely voters in key battleground states commissioned by Unleash Prosperity Now underscore the need for action and highlight support for many of President Trump’s recent policy proposals, as well as several MFP reforms. Examples include:
86% support allowing U.S. drug manufacturers to sell prescription drugs directly to American patients and local pharmacies to bypass and avoid added costs imposed by health insurance companies and others
78% support forcing foreign countries to pay their fair share for prescription drugs developed and manufactured by American drug manufacturers and workers through tougher trade negotiations.
84% support U.S. drug developers and manufacturers who invest in domestic research and development, manufacturing, and U.S. jobs to better compete with China and other foreign competitors
86% support requiring PBM corporate middlemen to pass on negotiated drug rebates and discounts to patients when paying for their prescription drugs
85% support reforming the 340B drug program to prohibit hospitals and middlemen companies from profiting off steep drug treatment discounts intended for lower-income and underserved patients
“Transparency isn’t just about prices—it’s about restoring trust, accountability, and dignity to American healthcare,” said Steve Forbes, Unleash Prosperity Co-Founder and Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media. “For too long, patients have been kept in the dark. That must end.”
“These are winning messages and policies that will work to develop more treatments and cures at a lower cost for Americans by cutting out waste and bureaucracy and making other rich countries pay their fair share,” said Phil Kerpen, President of American Commitment and a senior policy adviser to the MFP initiative. “Our blueprint puts patients first, ends the rigged game that rewards bureaucracy over innovation, and unleashes market forces to lower prices and improve health.”
For additional information, please contact media@mostfavoredpatient.org.
The full policy blueprint is available for download now at www.MostFavoredPatient.org, where citizens can also sign up to join the movement.
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Unleash Prosperity Now was co-founded by supply side economic policy legends, Dr. Arthur Laffer, Steve Forbes, and Stephen Moore, to turn the research and policies of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity into action.
Our mission is to fight for government policies that have been proven, in practice, to maximize economic growth and equitable prosperity in America, and turn these ideas into laws.