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Medicare Price Negotiations: HHS Nominee Suggests Adapting Part D 'Learnings' To Part B

 
• By Cathy Kelly

Alex Azar talks about price negotiation in Medicare Part B, whether his biopharma industry ties would influence his decisions as head of HHS, insulin price increases and importation during the first of his confirmation hearings.

Capitol House

HHS Secretary nominee Alex Azar is interested in exploring some form of price negotiations in Medicare Part B to help lower costs for the government and beneficiaries, he told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at a courtesy confirmation hearing Nov. 28.

The hearing served as a forum for members on both sides of the aisle to ask about Azar's views on drug pricing in light of his previous tenure as a senior executive at Eli Lilly & Co. In his testimony, he identified lowering drug prices as one of the highest priorities for his "personal efforts" as head of HHS. He also talked about finding ways to stop manufacturers from "evergreening" patents as a price-lowering measure

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