What benefits leaders should know about direct-to-consumer drug platform TrumpRx

The White House recently rolled out TrumpRx.gov, a direct-to-consumer platform that directs users toward sites where they can buy prescription drugs like Wegovy, a weight loss medication, and Gonal-F, a fertility drug.

In a speech celebrating the launch of TrumpRx, the president promised patients they’d “save a fortune” by using it. But by the White House’s own admission, Americans who already have health coverage from the government or their employer may not find a better deal through TrumpRx.

“If you have insurance, check your co-pay first—it may be even lower,” the site states.

Given 85% of Americans already have insurance, TrumpRx isn’t currently expected to deliver meaningful cost savings for patients, save for those who are seeking certain drugs that aren’t widely covered by health plans. Here’s what HR leaders should know about the platform.

TrumpRx builds on recent deals with pharmaceutical companies. In recent months, 16 different pharmaceutical companies have agreed to lower the list price of their drugs under a “most favored nation” model, i.e. in line with what other wealthy nations pay for the same medications.

Among the manufacturers that have inked deals with the White House are Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which sell the weight loss drugs Zepbound and Wegovy, as well as Merck KGaA’s EMD Serono, which makes popular fertility drugs.

TrumpRx doesn’t sell these medications directly, but rather guides potential buyers to these companies’ websites, where they can purchase them for a lower price, or apply for programs to get them at a discount. Other direct-to-consumer platforms, such as GoodRx and Cost Plus Drugs (billionaire Mark Cuban’s company), offer some generic versions of drugs that are even cheaper than what’s available via TrumpRx, a STAT News analysis found.

Cash-pay only, no insurance. Should workers with employer-sponsored insurance seek to purchase certain drugs from TrumpRx, the process could be complicated. As the website states, TrumpRx is “only available for cash-paying patients,” and cannot be used with insurance. As of 2024, just under half of Americans (48.6%) got health insurance through their employer, while about 35% were enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid, according to KFF.

During a panel hosted by KFF in November, Stacie B. Dusetzina, a health policy professor with Vanderbilt University, spoke to the potential challenges people with insurance could face when using TrumpRx to buy drugs.

“The groups I worry the most about here are people who might have other options under their health insurance,” she said. A patient might pay more for a drug through TrumpRx than they would through their insurance, particularly if they haven’t met their deductible or out-of-pocket maximum yet. Buying prescription drugs with cash won’t count toward a person’s out-of-pocket maximum, she noted.

“It would require people to be pretty savvy about their insurance benefit design and think through whether or not it’s a better deal for them in the long run to go through a site like this,” she added.

Ameet Sarpatwari, an assistant professor of population medicine with Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics, told the New York Times that “in the vast majority of cases, it’ll be cheaper to go through your insurance.”

Weight loss, fertility drugs among medications not commonly covered by insurance. Patients who pay out of pocket for GLP-1 and fertility medications are most likely to benefit from TrumpRx, experts told the Times. These drugs are less commonly covered by insurance; about one in four (27%) of employers with 200 or more workers offer IVF coverage, per KFF, while one in five (19%) cover GLP-s for weight loss.

Trump Rx “takes important steps to reduce the cost of some IVF medications,” Danielle Melfi, CEO of RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association, told HR Brew. The degree to which patients may benefit from the discounted fertility drugs offered through TrumpRx will largely depend on whether they receive any fertility coverage through insurance, and how that coverage is structured, Melfi said.

She noted that “a lot of folks in the country are cash-pay patients,” and this group would be eligible to take advantage of TrumpRx if they’re prescribed one of the medications available through the website.