Democrats say Trump boosted drugmaker stakes that gained from Medicare exemptions
Trump's pharmaceutical holdings grew to as much as $56.2 million, a report by congressional Democrats says, much of it in firms helped by Medicare price-negotiation exemptions.
Archive image · Photo: Nishkid64 / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee released a report Friday on President Donald Trump's stock holdings. It says the value of his pharmaceutical stakes rose from a maximum of $1.7 million in 2024 to as much as $56.2 million at the end of 2025. Up to $39.1 million was in companies that benefited from exemptions to Medicare's drug price negotiation program created by Republicans' 2025 tax and spending law.
Citing Trump's financial disclosures, the report says up to $2.55 million in drug stocks were bought before he signed the law in July 2025, including up to $950,000 on the day the Senate passed it. Democrats estimate Medicare patients could pay roughly $5,000 more a year for the cancer drugs Keytruda and Opdivo. Sen. Maggie Hassan, who leads the panel's Democrats, called the findings "outrageous and yet typical from this president."
The White House denies any conflict of interest. Spokesperson Davis Ingle said the portfolio is managed by outside financial institutions and that neither Trump nor his family has any ability to influence it. Supporters of the broader exemption for rare-disease drugs say it encourages new treatments; critics say it lets blockbuster drugmakers avoid negotiations.