17 January 2019 - Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar met this week with key Capitol Hill lawmakers to discuss combating high drug costs, even as the pharmaceutical industry ramped up its complaints about his surprisingly bold effort to take on the problem through the Medicare program.

Azar trekked up to the Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with many of the House and Senate lawmakers who will drive Congress’s approach to prescription drug spending over the next two years. 

His promised experiment with pegging certain Medicare payments to an international index doesn’t need congressional approval, but it could be harder for him to move ahead with the effort if Republicans start airing skepticism about it. And Azar would need Congress's help for some of the other ideas contained in President Trump's drug-pricing blueprint.

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