Over the past several months, President Trump has issued a host of executive orders that have impacts across a variety of industries. One of those industries, as you might expect, is healthcare.

While much of the news media has painted these orders as, largely, a stripping of administrative burden, there’s a lot of nuance to explore with these executive orders and how they actually affect the industry.

From prescription drug pricing, to antitrust enforcement, and even the reestablishment of the Presidential Fitness Test, these executive actions are sure to have far-reaching implications for providers, insurers, patients, and regulators. Here are some of the recent executive orders, or EOs, that have caught our attention.

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Prescription Drug Supply Chain Resilience

Several of Trump’s executive orders have been more substantive, especially those focused on prescription drug pricing and supply chain security.

In August 2025, President Trump signed an executive order with the intention of bolstering America’s pharmaceutical supply chain.

The order argues that, while around two in five prescription finished drug products are made in the United States, only about 10 percent of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) by volume for those drugs are made in the country.

Rather than develop a plan to make those ingredients within our borders, Trump has ordered that a “Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve (SAPIR)” be filled, meaning that the United States will have a greater stock of such ingredients on-hand rather than needing to import them when needed.

The purpose of this is twofold. First, the administration hopes to insulate manufacturers from supply chain and cost shocks, both from world-changing events like COVID and economic changes like the Trump tariffs. Second, the administration hopes that having these APIs nearby — and, presumably, at a lower cost — will encourage manufacturers to produce more of their drugs entirely in the United States.

However, some have already countered that this would not only raise prices, but reduce innovation, as they would invest more in local manufacturing than in research.

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Rescinding Biden’s 2021 Antitrust Executive Order

Perhaps the most consequential executive order in recent months was Trump’s decision to rescind President Biden’s 2021 executive order on promoting competition in the American economy.

The original order was fairly broad. In the order, Biden instructed relevant agencies to use their authority to combat “excessive concentration of industry, the abuses of market power, and the harmful effects of monopoly and monopsony,” particularly in healthcare markets like insurance, hospitals, and prescription drugs.

People in the healthcare industry viewed Biden’s order as a framework for stronger antitrust enforcement; consequently, there was increased scrutiny toward hospital mergers, insurer consolidations, and pharmaceutical pricing practices.

However, by rescinding it, Trump has effectively shifted federal policy in the opposite direction, emphasizing deregulation and reduced government intervention.

Supporters of the move take a free-market approach, arguing that removing the order will limit regulatory burdens and promote free competition. In contrast, critics warn that the rollback could allow already-large hospital systems and insurers to consolidate further, potentially reducing patient choice and driving up costs in the long term.

Anyone who has worked in the industry in the past few decades should be well familiar with the latter fear. The healthcare industry has seen significant vertical integration in recent years, with insurers acquiring provider groups and pharmacy benefit managers. Without strong antitrust enforcement, some experts fear that these trends could accelerate, creating even larger players with outsized market power.

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Implications for Providers, Insurers, and Patients

What impact Trump’s Executive Orders will have on the healthcare industry depends on who is being asked the question. Some will argue that the focus on supply chain resilience may provide immediate benefits for patients struggling with high drug costs and ensure greater security against global shortages. Others will question how this idea will conflict with a decrease in antitrust enforcement, which could raise prices for healthcare across the board. 

As we discussed in a previous post, transparency around contracted rates between provider groups and insurers is becoming increasingly common. Without aggressive antitrust oversight, larger organizations may be able to leverage this information to negotiate more favorable terms, potentially at the expense of smaller providers — and, indirectly, patients. This dynamic could reshape the competitive landscape in healthcare, with consolidation leading to fewer but more powerful players on both sides of the negotiating table.

Of course, one can’t be certain of how this will actually impact the industry until each EO has been fully implemented. As always, we will update you as these EOs are put into practice, and keep you abreast of how each EO is changing the healthcare landscape.

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