Alex Azar, President Trump’s nominee to be the next Health and Human Services secretary, said Wednesday that lowering drug prices will be a top priority of his once the Senate confirms him.
“Drug prices are too high,” he told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in his prepared testimony. “The president has made this clear. So have I.”
Azar, who was deputy secretary of HHS under former President George W. Bush, elaborated that his experience implementing part D of Medicare, the portion of the program that pays for medicines, made him qualified to tackle the issue. He also cited his “extensive knowledge of how insurance, manufacturers, pharmacy and government programs work together.”
The HELP hearing is one of the two Azar will face before his nomination advances to the Senate floor for a vote. He will also be questioned before the Senate Finance Committee, which hasn’t yet scheduled its hearing.
Azar, who until earlier this year was a top executive at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, is likely to face sharp questions from Democratic senators during the HELP hearing about his record overseeing the company. During his tenure, Lilly raised the price for its insulin drug. Azar did not say in his prepared remarks how he plans to lower prices — he said nothing about whether he would endorse programs that allow Medicare to set prices, or side with drug companies who say it takes too long for drugs to come to market.
Trump promised during his campaign to tackle high drug prices, and on Twitter has said Azar would be “a star for… lower drug prices.”
Azar listed three other priorities in his remarks, including lowering the price of health insurance for Obamacare customers, tackling the opioid epidemic, and finding ways for healthcare providers to be reimbursed based on patient outcomes rather than the number of procedures or tests they run.
