Medicare Drug Exemptions Shield Firms Tied to Trump Stock

Trump’s pharmaceutical holdings climbed from a maximum reported value of $1.7 million in 2024 to as much as $56.2 million at the end of 2025. The portfolio includes shares in companies that benefited from exemptions in a Republican-backed law. A report released Friday by the minority arm of the Joint Economic Committee says up to $39.1 million of those holdings were in firms that gained from the carveout. The policy affects whether Medicare can negotiate prices for some costly drugs, and beneficiaries could pay thousands more for certain treatments.

Who Holds the Stakes

The committee Democrats’ analysis found that Trump’s portfolio bought as much as $2.55 million in shares of companies benefiting from the exemptions on three dates before he signed the legislation in July 2025. On July 1, the day the Senate passed the bill, the portfolio bought as much as $950,000 in those shares. After the measure became law, it bought as much as $1 million in AbbVie stock in August 2025.

The report says the buying and selling continued during the first eight months of 2026. Those transactions added as much as $3.5 million in stock wealth in the pharmaceutical sector. Trump’s wealth has also grown through business interests, many of which benefited from administration policy moves, according to the report.

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who leads the committee’s minority arm, called the findings “outrageous and yet typical from this president, who makes the American people foot the bill again and again for his own gains.” The report describes investments and policy changes that overlap, but the White House disputes that they create a conflict.

Who Pays for the Carveout

A law from President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration allowed Medicare, for the first time, to negotiate prices for some of the costliest prescription drugs. Republicans’ 2025 tax and spending bill expanded an existing exemption for drugs developed to treat rare diseases or conditions. According to healthcare research nonprofit KFF, the change can delay when certain costly drugs become eligible for negotiation or exclude them entirely.

The exemption, also known as the orphan drug exclusion, lets drug companies keep charging prices that Medicare negotiations might otherwise have reduced. Supporters said broadening it would encourage development of rare-disease treatments. Critics said it lets makers of blockbuster drugs avoid negotiations that could lower costs for Medicare and its recipients.

The report estimated that Medicare beneficiaries receiving Keytruda, manufactured by Merck, and Opdivo, made by Bristol Myers Squibb, could pay roughly $5,000 more annually than they would if Medicare negotiated prices for the drugs. Trump’s portfolio includes stock in both companies. Some beneficiaries could face thousands more for certain cancer treatments and other medications.

The Official Denial

Trump made lowering prescription drug costs a central part of his healthcare policy. His administration struck deals with pharmaceutical companies that it said would make medications more affordable. The policy and the stock holdings sit alongside those public claims, while committee Democrats analyzed financial disclosures to produce the report’s figures.

The White House has repeatedly denied ethics issues and accused Democrats of “attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest.” Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, said third-party financial institutions independently manage Trump’s stock and bond portfolio. “Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold,” Ingle said.

Recent polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that most Americans think Trump is profiting from the presidency in unethical or illegal ways and is more focused on his wealth than helping people like them. Drug pricing, the report notes, depends on a complicated set of factors. But the stakes are immediate. A federal exemption can restrict Medicare’s negotiating reach, while people receiving certain medicines may face higher costs.