MADISON, Wis. — New reporting from The Wisconsin Independent highlights the expensive impacts of Trump’s prescription drug tariffs — which mirror what MAGA extremist Congressman Tom Tiffany has pushed in D.C. — on Wisconsin’s healthcare system. Congressman Tiffany, Trump’s endorsed candidate for governor, cosponsored generic prescription drug import taxes in a 2020 bill that was so extreme only two other members of Congress cosponsored it. Despite acknowledging that “there have been some people that have been hurt by the tariffs, there’s no doubt about it,” Tiffany has voted seven times to protect Trump’s tariffs that are raising costs across the board on Wisconsin businesses and families. 

The Wisconsin Independent: Wisconsin pharmacist says Trump’s tariffs could end his business

By: Jonah Beleckis

  • Schumacher said he expects costs to rise for wholesalers, which will then pass costs on to pharmacies, which will pass costs on to patients who need medications. 
  • “In the situation where patients pay their own way, that means higher prices for those patients,” he said. “For patients who have insurance that uses a pharmacy benefit manager to decide their price, those pharmacies will likely not be reimbursed any higher amount than they currently are, even though the drugs will cost more. So that will be an unsustainable — even more unsustainable situation than what we see today.” 
  • Schumacher said local pharmacies cannot afford to repeatedly lose money on some prescription medications. He sometimes tells patients to get their medication from other pharmacies so he doesn’t need to sell the drugs at a loss. Because pharmacies are bound to prices set by pharmacy benefit managers, he said, he cannot raise his own prices like a Culver’s might if the price of lettuce goes up. 
  • Other pharmacies across the state have struggled, too, Schumacher said. Last year, Streu’s Pharmacy in Green Bay closed after 70 years in business. 
  • Schumacher criticized Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany over his support for Trump’s tariffs. 
  • In 2020, Tiffany cosponsored the Safe and Secure Medicine Supply for Hardworking Americans Act, which would have imposed “a 25% duty on drugs imported from China, a 20% duty on drugs imported from India, and a 10% duty on drugs imported from any other country.” The bill did not make it out of committee in the House. 
  • Tiffany also cosponsored a 2023 bill that would have repealed the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-era law that had several provisions aimed at lowering prescription drug costs, such as limiting monthly out-of-pocket payments for insulin to $35 for people with Medicare. 
  • “Tom Tiffany has been no friend to pharmacy or to healthcare in the state of Wisconsin,” Schumacher said. 
  • Tiffany’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s generic drugs tariffs. 
  • Milwaukee emergency room physician Chris Ford spoke during the press conference as well. 
  • He said higher prices for medications are a public health issue because patients who cannot afford their prescriptions will likely get sicker and end up in already-strained emergency rooms.
  • “I’ve treated patients in the emergency department who were there simply because they could not afford the prescription medications that their doctor ordered,” Ford said. “This problem is going to get so much worse if these tariffs go into effect.”