President Trump wants to go “much, much further” than a series of proposals in his budget to tackle high drug prices, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Wednesday.
Azar said during a speech before the American Hospital Association that HHS is working to solve a “number of problems that plague drug markets.” His remarks come two days before Trump is expected to deliver a major address on high drug prices.
Azar said the agency wants to solve problems such as the high list prices set by drug makers and “seniors and government programs overpaying for drugs due to the lack of the latest negotiating tools; rising out-of-pocket costs for consumers; and foreign governments free-riding off American investment in innovation.”
Azar did not elaborate on what new negotiating tools he hopes to give to seniors and programs.
Democrats have called for Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, but the reform has gone nowhere in the GOP-controlled Congress.
Trump’s budget proposal set out several reforms for lowering drug prices, including giving low-income seniors free generic drugs.
It remains unclear what Trump will focus on during his Friday speech. However, Azar and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb have blasted what they call unfair rebate agreements negotiated between insurers, drug middlemen and manufacturers. The officials have said consumers don’t benefit enough from the rebates.
Azar also touched on the need for greater transparency of prices of healthcare procedures.
“I believe you ought to have the right to know what a procedure is going to cost, and what it’s going to cost you, out of pocket — before you get it,” he said. “We want your input on the best way to make this a reality, and we will applaud those who make this vision a reality on their own.”
He added that HHS put out a request for information on ways to solve transparency issues such as surprise medical billing.
“But surprise billing is really just one piece of a much bigger problem of opacity in healthcare pricing,” he said. “It’s not exaggeration to say that just about every hospital bill in America, today, is a surprise bill.”
