Washington took a decade to approve an obscure drug-pricing bill. That’s a bad omen for more ambitious reforms

After a grueling, decadelong fight, President Trump last month signed a new law that aims to help lower drug prices — the first substantial piece of legislation on that issue that’s made it to his desk.

But the bill’s yearslong struggle to make it to the president’s desk highlights a jarring reality in Washington: Even when a drug pricing bill is relatively straightforward and bolstered by broad bipartisan support, even when hospitals, insurers, doctors and patient groups all back it, even when nearly everyone in Washington wants to lower drug prices, it takes years to get anything done.