President Trump says every state has joined his favored-nations drug plan, which White House economists project will save Medicaid $64 billion over 10 years.

The New York Post reported Friday that Trump announced participation by all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. He made the announcement from the Oval Office.

The initiative ties federal-agency drug prices to lower rates paid in eight other wealthy nations. State-run Medicaid programs, which cover roughly 70 million Americans, are expected to receive savings under the plan.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimated that Medicaid programs would save $64 billion over 10 years. The White House put projected government savings from the broader initiative at $529 billion during the same period.

Those remain administration estimates, not savings already collected. But nationwide participation gives the plan a reach that Trump said left-wing critics doubted it could achieve.

Every state accepted the Medicaid drug-pricing deal

Trump said some Democratic-led states resisted before the potential savings became too large to pass up. He described price reductions of 70%, 80% or 90%, though the account did not identify which drugs would receive each discount.

Trump said the lower costs would give governors more room to fund public services:

“This will save states billions and billions of dollars per year on drugs and allow them to invest those savings in providing better healthcare and higher quality service for the American people,”

The president also put the political stakes plainly. “I mean, this one thing alone should win us the midterm.”

That confidence rests on a simple test: whether families and state budgets see the promised relief. A pricing plan that delivers measurable savings will carry more weight than years of speeches about prescription costs.

Oz says drug costs are squeezing state budgets

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid administrator, said the program would free money now consumed by pharmaceutical spending. He placed drug costs after rebates at $50 billion.

Oz said those expenses compete with other state needs:

“The $50 billion in pharmaceutical prices that they are paying after rebates is crowding out schools and roads and long-term care and rural care,”

Twenty-six major pharmaceutical companies agreed to special pricing for federal agencies, the Post reported. The companies also agreed to offer discounts on certain drugs through TrumpRx for some Americans without insurance.

The exact companies, medicines and TrumpRx discounts were not identified. Nor did the account detail the administrative process for directing projected savings into state Medicaid programs.

Those unanswered questions matter. Officials will need to show which prices fell, how much taxpayers saved and whether the discounts reached eligible patients.

Kennedy credits Trump with pursuing a former Democratic priority

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democrat, described the policy as the kind of help for poorer Americans that his old party had long promised.

“Every nation is judged, every civilization is judged based upon how it cares for the poorest members of society,” Kennedy said.

His point sharpened the contrast surrounding the announcement. Trump secured stated participation from every state, including those whose leaders may oppose him politically, by offering a plan built around lower costs.

That is an important standard for government policy. Results should cross party lines because taxpayers in red and blue states pay the bills, while patients in both need affordable medicine.

Lower prices and accountable spending beat empty promises. Taxpayers and patients deserve both.