As a recent post on MHProNews reminded readers, housing and healthcare are two giant areas of U.S. financial expenditures. So, if costs in healthcare were reduced for a family, it stands to reason that the money available for housing and other purchases should rise. Additionally, as Part III on this MHVille installment of “News Through the Lens of Manufactured Homes & Factory–Built Housing” © facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) will reflect, the announcement by the Trump-Vance Administration on a new executive order (EO) may hold clues as to what President Donald J. Trump leadership and team are willing to do in out-of-the-box steps to get beyond decades of difficult status quo behavior. This mainstream headline topic is thus arguably relevant to MHVille too.
Part I – From The Center Square to MHProNews is the following
WATCH: Trump signs executive order aiming to slash prescription drug costs up to 90%
President Donald Trump addresses reporters as he prepares to sign the “Delivering Most-favored-nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients” executive order on Monday, May 12, 2025.
(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday aiming to drastically reduce what Americans pay for their prescription drugs by up to 90%.
The order seeks to reform how much the U.S. pays for pharmaceutical drugs compared to other countries. On average, Americans pay nearly four times more than other countries for their prescription drugs, effectively subsidizing pharmaceutical companies’ research and development costs for others around the world, according to the administration.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner and Johns Hopkins surgical oncologist Marty Makary joined Trump, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other health administration officials at a news conference Monday to announce the order.
“We didn’t take an oath to heal patients and then watch their life get ruined financially with their home, mortgage, retirement going down the drain with Go Fund Me campaigns, raising money from church communities and synagogues and friends they haven’t seen in 20 years to try to raise money – for what?” said Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary.
“For a system where Americans have been getting ripped off by 10, 12, 15 times higher prices than we see in other countries?”
Makary and others said the “fundamental problem” with American prescription drug costs is a lack of competition in the global marketplace, with Americans comprising only about 4% of the global population but supplying at least two-thirds of drug companies’ revenue globally.
“The fundamental problem in health care is that we’ve had non-competitive markets,” Makary continued. “We can do little things around the edges, or we can transform those markets into competitive markets, and that’s what this executive order does.”
The order intends to secure the “most-favored-nation” price for pharmaceutical drugs for the U.S., or the lowest price among its economic peer countries, through a series of actions. It instructs the U.S. secretary of commerce and the U.S. trade representative to “ensure” that other countries aren’t engaging in practices that “[force] American patients to pay for a disproportionate amount of global pharmaceutical research and development.” Kennedy is to work in coordination with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz and others to develop most-favored-nation target pricing for pharmaceutical companies. It also directs Kennedy to devise direct-to-consumer purchasing programs for drug companies that abide by the president’s most-favored-nation pricing mandate for the U.S.
Oz called the order the “most powerful executive order on pharmacy pricing and health care ever in the history of our nation.”
If drug companies don’t comply, then the order directs Kennedy to create a rulemaking plan to impose the targeted pricing, or certify to Congress that the U.S. can import the drugs that remain too expensive under certain importation waivers. Certain drugs may even have their FDA approvals revoked by Makary.
The order was immediately met with skepticism by some critics.
“If Trump is serious about making real change rather than just issuing a press release, he will support legislation I will introduce to ensure we pay no more for prescription drugs than people in other major countries,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., posted on X after the news conference, touting his own legislation and saying Trump’s order will be “thrown out by the courts.”
“If we come together, we can get it passed in a few weeks,” Sanders said.
Kennedy said some politicians, including Sanders, have been promising to “equalize” what the U.S. and Europe pay for pharmaceutical drugs for years, while knowing they can’t deliver on the promise because of the deep entanglement between the pharmaceutical industry and Congress. And even though he too has been promising to do something about the issue for years, he didn’t think he would see a solution emerge in his lifetime.
“I’m just so grateful to be here today. I never thought this would happen in my lifetime,” Kennedy said. “I have a couple of kids who are Democrats, who are big Bernie Sanders fans. When I told them what was going to happen, they had tears in their eyes, because they thought this was never going to happen in our lifetime.”
Kennedy and the other health administration officials who spoke praised the president for being willing to stand up to the industry and its powerful lobby, which has one to three times as many lobbyists in Washington as there are members of Congress and the Supreme Court, according to Kennedy.
“We finally have a president who’s willing to stand up for the American people,” Kennedy said.
—
Part II From the WND News Center to MHProNews is the following
Trump earthquake hits drug pricing worldwide: Americans now to get fair deal
Will give pharmaceutical prices to U.S. residents like those for other nations’ consumers
By Bob Unruh |
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy joins President Donald Trump at a news conference in the White House on Monday, May 12, 2025
The economic earthquake that is known as President Donald Trump on Monday hit the pharmaceutical industry worldwide, and the end result will be that Americans soon will be paying the same for drugs as the best deal being offered to any customers worldwide.
No longer will Americans be paying four, five or even 10 times the price for the same drug that others around the world pay, he said.
It’s coming through an executive order and Trump plans for Congress to put it into the law.
It essentially will look at the best price paid for a drug by any customers around the world, and will make that same drug available at that same price to Americans.
For decades, Americans actually have been paying for literally all of the development, research and other costs of drugs.
Trump cited a friend who had pointed out that his treatment was costing him $88 while he was in London. But in New York, the same prescription cost him $1,300.
“We’ve been subsidizing countries around the world,” Trump said. He said the drug pricing now will have “fairness” for Americans.
President Donald Trump holds a news conference in the White House on Monday, May 12, 2025
He said some drug prices would be dropping almost immediately. At the close of an hour-long news conference, Trump signed the order.
The fairness comes after the Joe Biden administration left Americans paying some 70% higher prescription costs than they were paying in 2000.
Pharmaceutical companies have been getting two-thirds of their profits from Americans, which make up 4% of the world’s population.
President Trump is signing a historic Executive Order to significantly reduce drug prices for Americans.
This EO will help bypass costly middlemen and bring the prices Americans pay for prescription drugs in line with those paid by other nations.
Other Presidents merely talked… pic.twitter.com/KTD37JonpH
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) May 12, 2025
Those companies should have no great loss, as the prices that are reduced for Americans will be made up by slightly higher prices for others around the globe.
“Basically what we’re doing is equalizing … we’re all going to pay the same,” Trump said. “Whoever is paying the lowest price, that’s the price we’re going to get.”
He continued, “Democrats could have done this a long time ago. They have fought like hell for the drug companies.”
Trump noted he’d begun addressing drug prices during his first term.
“Joe Biden without any knowledge of what he was doing terminated the policy. Then he negotiated a new system… five of the drugs he negotiated now are much more expensive than when he got involved.”
HHS chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pointed out this was a goal he’s held for years.
🚨 RFK JR ON TRUMP’S DRUG ORDER: “I never thought this would happen in my lifetime… we FINALLY have a President who is willing to stand up for the American people.”
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 12, 2025
“This is an extraordinary day,” he said. “This was an issue people talked about … but wouldn’t do anything.”
He said the topic was “radioactive,” as there are many more pharmaceutical industry lobbyists in Washington than members of Congress.
He called Trump a “man of his word,”
“There has never been a president more willing to stand up to the oligarchs than Donald Trump.”
Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said, “This is the most powerful executive order on pharmaceutical prices in our nation. It only happened because we have a president still to stand up…”
At that time, he said, on social media, “For many years the World has wondered why Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceuticals in the United States States of America were SO MUCH HIGHER IN PRICE THAN THEY WERE IN ANY OTHER NATION, SOMETIMES BEING FIVE TO TEN TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE SAME DRUG, MANUFACTURED IN THE EXACT SAME LABORATORY OR PLANT, BY THE SAME COMPANY???” Trump began, having made people wait nearly four hours for his post.
“It was always difficult to explain and very embarrassing because, in fact, there was no correct or rightful answer. The Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the ‘suckers’ of America, ALONE.
—
Part III – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
In no particular order of importance are the following observations.
1) For years, MHProNews and/or MHLivingNews would periodically spotlight Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who until he ran for president himself was a lifelong Democrat. The ‘optics’ of having Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his remarks, as shown and provided in Parts I and II above should not be underestimated with those who are progressive, left-leaning, or have been Democratic or Democratic leaning independents.
As discernment oriented and truth-seeking political independents, the leadership of MHProNews/MHLivingNews have strived for years to present information and insights that others may miss and frame those insights in ways relevant to the artificially diminished manufactured home industry, a.k.a. MHVille. Kennedy has been a controversial voice from the left that often spoke truth to power, even when it meant criticizing fellow Democrats and their often arguably corrupt cronyism.
With that backdrop, this Trump EO has the potential of taking air from the purported posturing and feigned thunder away from Senator Bernie Sanders (VT-DS) and rising leftist Democratic star, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC).
2) Some sources, perhaps fueled by insiders with the then-incoming Trump Administration, were saying shortly before Trump’s inauguration that he may sign as many as 200 executive orders on his first day, or within days. President Trump did sign dozens of EOs early on as WBAL reported on 2.3.2025: “Trump signed 36 executive orders during his first week.”
The official Federal Register stated this.
Federal Register (.gov)https://www.federalregister.gov › presidential-documents
Donald J. Trump signed 220 Executive orders between 2017 and 2021.
The Federal Register also said that as of May 5, 2025:
In 2025, Donald J. Trump signed 147 Executive orders (from EO 14147 through EO 14293).
So, at the current pace, it is entirely possible that Trump could sign more EOs in his first 6 months to a year in office as he did during his entire first term in office.
3) To better understand the economic facts about the share of the GDP of housing and health care, see the report linked below.
As was noted in the preface to this report, healthcare and housing are the two largest sectors of consumer spending. When governmental spending on healthcare is factored in, healthcare’s share of the U.S. economy gets even bigger (see article linked above).
4) There are arguments for and against this EO, as a check of media outlets and pundits across the left-right spectrum will attest. The purpose of this article is less about the possible value of the EO itself or how it may (or may not) work to save taxpayers and Americans money, as important as those topics obviously are.
Rather, as the headline pointed out, this may signal Trump’s willingness to break the mold of predecessors from both major parties.
5) Clearly, under the time in office for Joe Biden (D) and Kamala Harris (D), Biden and his administration failed to enforce federal laws that could have benefited manufactured housing, even though as a U.S. Senator, Biden himself supported enactment of those laws.
6) It ought to be apparent that merely passing a law doesn’t mean that the stated intent of that law will be properly enforced, or in some circumstances, even enforced at all. A fair analogy to what is occurring in the manufactured housing industry is immigration and border enforcement policies. Many Democrats, and some Republicans, openly or tacitly favored so-called ‘open borders’ policies, despite federal laws that prohibited such behavior.
It may require a level of chutzpah and cojones that others in the 21st century have clearly not had the stomach for, even though Trump 1.0 reportedly toyed with the notion of enforcing “enhanced preemption” under the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000.
7) Back to this Trump EO from the White House website.
DELIVERING MOST-FAVORED-NATION PRESCRIPTION DRUG
PRICING TO AMERICAN PATIENTS
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. The United States has less than five percent of the world’s population and yet funds around three quarters of global pharmaceutical profits. This egregious imbalance is orchestrated through a purposeful scheme in which drug manufacturers deeply discount their products to access foreign markets, and subsidize that decrease through enormously high prices in the United States.
The United States has for too long turned its back on Americans, who unwittingly sponsor both drug manufacturers and other countries. These entities today rely on price markups on American consumers, generous public subsidies for research and development primarily through the National Institutes of Health, and robust public financing of prescription drug consumption through Federal and State healthcare programs. Drug manufacturers, rather than seeking to equalize evident price discrimination, agree to other countries’ demands for low prices, and simultaneously fight against the ability for public and private payers in the United States to negotiate the best prices for patients. The inflated prices in the United States fuel global innovation while foreign health systems get a free ride.
This abuse of Americans’ generosity, who deserve low-cost pharmaceuticals on the same terms as other developed nations, must end. Americans will no longer be forced to pay almost three times more for the exact same medicines, often made in the exact same factories. As the largest purchaser of pharmaceuticals, Americans should get the best deal.
Sec. 2. Policy. Americans should not be forced to subsidize low-cost prescription drugs and biologics in other developed countries, and face overcharges for the same products in the United States. Americans must therefore have access to the most-favored-nation price for these products.
My Administration will take immediate steps to end global freeloading and, should drug manufacturers fail to offer American consumers the most-favored-nation lowest price, my Administration will take additional aggressive action.
Sec. 3. Addressing Foreign Nations Freeloading on American-Financed Innovation. The Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative shall take all necessary and appropriate action to ensure foreign countries are not engaged in any act, policy, or practice that may be unreasonable or discriminatory or that may impair United States national security and that has the effect of forcing American patients to pay for a disproportionate amount of global pharmaceutical research and development, including by suppressing the price of pharmaceutical products below fair market value in foreign countries.
Sec. 4. Enabling Direct-to-Consumer Sales to American Patients at the Most-Favored-Nation Price. To the extent consistent with law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) shall facilitate direct-to-consumer purchasing programs for pharmaceutical manufacturers that sell their products to American patients at the most-favored-nation price.
Sec. 5. Establishing Most-Favored-Nation Pricing. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other relevant executive department and agency (agency) officials, communicate most-favored-nation price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers to bring prices for American patients in line with comparably developed nations.
(b) If, following the action described in subsection (a) of this section, significant progress towards most-favored-nation pricing for American patients is not delivered, to the extent consistent with law:
(i) the Secretary shall propose a rulemaking plan to impose most-favored-nation pricing;
(ii) the Secretary shall consider certification to the Congress that importation under section 804(j) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) will pose no additional risk to the public’s health and safety and result in a significant reduction in the cost of prescription drugs to the American consumer; and if the Secretary so certifies, then the Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall take action under section 804(j)(2)(B) of the FDCA to describe circumstances under which waivers will be consistently granted to import prescription drugs on a case-by-case basis from developed nations with low-cost prescription drugs;
(iii) following the report issued under section 13 of Executive Order 14273 of April 15, 2025 (Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First), the Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission shall, to the extent consistent with law, undertake enforcement action against any anti-competitive practices identified within such report, including through use of sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, as appropriate;
(iv) the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other relevant agencies as necessary, shall review and consider all necessary action regarding the export of pharmaceutical drugs or precursor material that may be fueling the global price discrimination;
(v) the Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall review and potentially modify or revoke approvals granted for drugs, for those drugs that maybe be unsafe, ineffective, or improperly marketed; and
(vi) the heads of agencies shall take all action available, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, to address global freeloading and price discrimination against American patients.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii.) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The Department of Health and Human Services shall provide funding for publication of this order in the Federal Register.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 12, 2025.
8) Under the Biden-Harris regime leadership team, enforcing enhanced preemption was expressly rejected by Marcia Fudge. That rejection was caught in video recorded by CSPAN and was so reported by MHProNews.
Now, there is a potential argument to be made that Sec. Fudge, in so saying, could have exposed herself to a variety of legal or other remedies. That’s another topic for another time. However, the Sec. Fudge statement, and the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) lack of public push-back to it is another part of the set of puzzle pieces that must be kept in mind when it came to what occurred in and for manufactured housing in the last 4 (or more) years. As Copilot aptly observed, MHI seems like they are into “optics” over actual performance. MHI openly embraced “New Democrats” proposals that omitted any mention of enforcement of federal preemption.
MHI’s posturing and paltering for optics over effectiveness, apparently in order to support the consolidation of the industry, is supported by too much evidence for the objective-reality minded to ignore.
9) As more evidence for that vexing and apparent reality, MHI touted the ‘elevation’ of the Office of Manufactured Housing Programs (OMHP). But during that same year of ‘elevation’ of the OMHP that MHI touted, manufactured housing production declined.
| Year | Total U.S. Production of HUD Code Manufactured Homes |
| 2021 | 105,772 |
| 2022 | 112,882 |
| 2023 | 89,169 |
| 2024 | 103,314 |
So, the “optics” that Copilot aptly identified, based on MHARR, MHProNews, and MHLivingNews reports that also cited MHI, and MHI related bloggers and trade media is revealing. When the totality of the evidence of what MHI has ‘accomplished’ is examined and viewed through the lens of the key performance indicator (KPI) – the objective measure of actual manufactured homes produced, the year MHI touted was little more than yet another MHI leadership head fake. The facts ought to speak for themselves, but too often MHI and their allies attempt to blur reality with dramatic (optics oriented) distractions. This is one of several reasons why the KPI of production must be carefully watched and reported, as MHProNews does and others (including MHI, but not limited to them) in the MHI orbit routinely fail to do publicly. If the facts of production are the measuring stick of performance, then MHI corporate and senior staff leadership are clearly failing.
10) To break out of this 21st century “bottleneck,” as MHARR has called it, bold action will be required. MHARR has engaged with Trump Administration officials with that end-goal of getting good existing laws enforced to become a reality.
And MHI? They have obviously doubled down on optics and theatrics instead.
MHI hired Teresa Payne away from HUD earlier this month. What is that if not optics-oriented, given that Payne has done little or nothing to see federal enhanced preemption under the 2000 Reform Law enforced?
11) Like him or not, give Trump his due. There is an evidence-based case to be made that few understand “optics” better than Trump. Trump understood optics and theatrics long before he became president. Much of his career was about getting and keeping in the public eye, from cameo appearances in Home Alone 2, to having his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, to hosting beauty pageants, and many forms of promotion. As the U.S. President, Trump turns EOs into a signing ceremony on a regular basis. There is no autopen in apparent use for these, as reportedly occurred on a routine basis with Joe Biden.
Trump gets and keeps in the spotlight.
- The EO for drug prices President Trump signed is arguably relevant, because it defies some standard (past, pre-Trump) Republican thinking.
- It steals some of Senator Sanders’ and progressive’s thunder, as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.
Note one of the pull quotes from the EO text in Part III #7 above said this. Bold is added by MHProNews
Americans should not be forced to subsidize low-cost prescription drugs and biologics in other developed countries, and face overcharges for the same products in the United States.
And:
The United States has for too long turned its back on Americans, who unwittingly sponsor both drug manufacturers and other countries.
And:
the heads of agencies shall take all action available, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, to address global freeloading and price discrimination against American patients.
If some of those notions were applied to manufactured housing and the 2000 Reform Law and its “enhanced preemption” provision was invoked along with more federally supported financing options, inherently affordable manufactured home sales and production could boom. That’s apparently what MHARR is seeking to do. They are attempting to take Trump 2.0 talking points and apply them to the manufactured home industry in earnest, as opposed to merely as lip service as MHI has done since the dawn of the Berkshire Hathaway era of manufactured housing.
It should not be forgotten that prior HUD Sec. Ben Carson, M.D., also made the links between health and housing.
12) Should Trump 2.0 (a.k.a.: T2) pragmatically embrace manufactured housing and its existing federal laws, it could unleash an array of domestic factory-built home production that does not require federal subsidies to be affordable.
13) It remains to be seen if T2 will move in a similarly bold way to solve the affordable housing crisis as President Trump’s EO on drugs promises to ease the high cost of medication (and by extension, health care) in the U.S. More on recent manufactured housing industry developments and research are found among the linked reports.
PS: Copilot’s response to the inquiry linked here opened with these words:
“Your assessment is well-supported by available evidence and aligns with documented trends in the manufactured housing industry.”
There are sound reasons why AI has said that MHProNews has more than 6x the combined readership of MHI and its affiliated bloggers and trade media.
Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
