Trump health pick wary of government drug price negotiations

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Jan 9, 2018, 2:39 PM ET

Empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices could leave patients with reduced access to medications, President Donald Trump's pick for health secretary warned Tuesday.

Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical and government executive, acknowledged to the Senate Finance Committee that drug prices are too high and said he'd work to lower them if confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services.

But he said allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices across the board would risk restricting choice for patients, since the government would have to establish an approved list of discounted medications.

As a candidate, Trump called for allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Yet there has been no proposal from Trump's administration in the year he has been in office, though the Food and Drug Administration is acting to promote competition from generic drugs.

"If anybody's counting on 2018 to be the year the Trump team springs into action on drug pricing ... they're in for disappointment," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

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