The president said he would promote more competition among pharmaceutical companies, but didn’t call for Medicare to directly negotiate lower prices or consumers to be able to import low-cost drugs.
Breaking a campaign promise, President Trump will not push for the plan, which was popular with voters but not other Republican politicians, when he speaks on Friday about soaring prescription costs.
The I.R.S. has started sending penalty notices to businesses that failed to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate, angering Republicans and business groups.
Democratic candidates for the House say voters will punish Republicans for voting last year to repeal the Affordable Care Act, even though the law survived.
A state proposal to limit the number of drugs covered by Medicaid, fiercely opposed by patients and drug companies, has drawn national attention as states struggle to pay for costly new medicines.
The president has undermined the Affordable Care Act, but it “remains the law,” the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. But she encouraged the state to keep trying.