Healthcare DIVE May 16, 2018
Dive Brief:
- HHS Secretary Alex Azar underscored proposed changes made in President Donald Trump’s “American Patients First” blueprint in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, where he defended against criticism that Trump dropped support of Medicare directly negotiating drug prices.
- Azar argued that the free market is better equipped to drive down costs while preserving consumers’ right to choose what works for them.
- Trump’s plan seeks to merge some parts of Medicare Part B into Part D, which the pharmaceutical industry has opposed. The secretary warned that if pharma doesn’t bring the administration “a plan for which drugs make sense to move from Part B to Part D, we’ll decide that for them.”