Posted by Michael Wonder on 10 Apr 2019
‘He calls me, I call him’: Alex Azar on his relationship with President Trump, drug pricing, and winning over skeptical conservatives
10 April 2019 - Alex Azar speaks about his efforts to lower drug prices multiple times each week with President Trump, he said Tuesday. But it is his conversations with other Republicans on that issue that have often proven more difficult, the Health and Human Services secretary acknowledged Tuesday.
The conservative resistance to several key Trump administration proposals to bring down the cost of medicine is substantial enough that Azar isn’t even seeking praise from members of his own party — he counts Republicans’ tempered criticisms of the administration’s signature proposal to cap some U.S. payments for drugs as a win.
“Let me put it this way: I don’t think you’ve seen any Republican leadership or Republican chairman come out firmly against what we’re doing,” Azar said. “They’re remaining open-minded and considering it.”
