Washington’s MFN Drug Pricing Scheme Would Devastate Louisiana’s Healthcare System

A misguided federal drug pricing experiment is back—and it spells serious trouble for Louisiana.

The Most Favored Nation (MFN) policy, first introduced under the previous administration and now resurfacing in policy circles, would tie the prices Medicare pays for certain medications to the lowest price paid in foreign countries. While it may sound like a clever way to cut costs, the reality is far more dangerous—especially for a rural, aging, and medically vulnerable state like Louisiana.

At its core, the MFN policy imports foreign price controls from countries with vastly different healthcare systems, lower levels of pharmaceutical innovation, and centralized rationing. Under MFN, if France or Germany negotiates a lower price for a drug, Medicare would be forced to match it. The problem? Those countries often trade access for affordability, meaning new, life-saving therapies are delayed or denied altogether. In fact, many cutting-edge cancer treatments available in the U.S. are not even approved in many MFN benchmark countries.

For Louisiana’s patients, this would be catastrophic. The state already struggles with healthcare access. We rank near the bottom in national health metrics, have higher-than-average rates of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and large swaths of rural parishes depend on a fragile network of community providers and specialty clinics. These are the very providers who would be hit hardest by MFN’s cuts.

In practice, MFN means oncologists, rheumatologists, and other specialists may no longer be able to afford to offer infused or injected therapies in their offices. Patients could be forced to travel to distant hospitals—if those hospitals even agree to absorb the costs. That’s not cost-saving; it’s cost-shifting, and for many Louisiana families, it would mean delayed care, higher out-of-pocket expenses, and worse outcomes.

There’s also a long-term cost. The U.S. is a global leader in drug development because we reward innovation. Capping prices based on countries that don’t carry the same R&D burden will kill investment in the very cures we need—especially for rare diseases and cancers that disproportionately affect Southern and minority populations.

If we want a healthcare system that works for Louisiana, price transparency, competition, and smarter benefit design are the way forward—not adopting the broken policies of Europe and Canada. MFN is a blunt instrument that targets innovation, undercuts local providers, and jeopardizes patient access in states that can least afford the disruption.

Congress and the administration should drop this dangerous policy once and for all—and work instead to craft reforms that protect patients, preserve innovation, and reflect the unique needs of states like Louisiana.