Tag: Health and Human Services

‘HHS has been kicked in the teeth’

After 100 days of coronavirus, mixed signals from Trump and near-daily pounding by critics, the health department is at its wits’ end.

The coronavirus outbreak burning its way through the United States has taken a different kind of toll on staff at the center of the nation’s response.

Officials here, at the Health and Human Services department headquarters, have worked around the clock since mid-January to first prepare for the possible Covid-19 outbreak and then manage the pandemic it became. But the Trump administration’s repeated stumbles have provoked a daily deluge of attacks, watchdog probes and open speculation about the future of the department’s leader, Secretary Alex Azar, culminating in a spate of reports about how White House officials were discussing Azar’s potential replacements this past weekend.

While President Donald Trump swiftly rejected those reports and praised Azar, more than 15 current and former staff who spoke to POLITICO described an atmosphere of exhaustion and dysfunction — capped off by White House efforts to weaken the health secretary. Continue reading.

HHS nearing plan to roll back transgender protections

The Trump administration is preparing to roll back protections for transgender patients while empowering health care workers to refuse care based on religious objections, according to three officials with knowledge of the pending regulations.

The long-expected rules have alarmed patient advocates and public health groups, which have warned the health department that the rules could harm vulnerable populations’ access to care. Meanwhile, the rules have been eagerly anticipated by religious-rights groups and conservative states that have lobbied for the changes.

The controversial rules — which the Trump administration has been scrutinizing for more than a year to prepare for expected legal challenges — have been closely guarded inside the administration, following several media reports on the efforts that sparked backlash and complicated officials’ strategy. Officials say the two health department rules are now expected within the next 10 days.

View the complete April 24 article by Dan Diamond on the Politico website here.

He Raised Drug Prices at Eli Lilly. Can He Lower Them for the U.S.?

The following article by Robert Pear was posted on the New York Times website November 26, 2017:

Alex M. Azar II in 2006, when he was deputy health and human services secretary under President George W. Bush. He will begin confirmation hearings this week to head the department under President Trump. Credit Evan Vucci/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Alex M. Azar II, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has expressed concern about the soaring cost of prescription drugs for many consumers. This week, Mr. Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive, is expected to face tough questions at a Senate confirmation hearing over why his own company raised prices.

Democratic senators say that, as a top manager at Eli Lilly and Company, he was responsible for steep increases on insulin and other drugs. How he would now tackle that problem as secretary, along with the future of the Affordable Care Act, promises to dominate the hearings.

Even Democrats who are unlikely to vote for Mr. Azar say that he will probably be confirmed, and that he would be more pragmatic and less ideological than the man he would succeed, Tom Price, who resigned in September under criticism for his use of private jets and military flights. Continue reading “He Raised Drug Prices at Eli Lilly. Can He Lower Them for the U.S.?”