Alex Azar’s reforms would lock in out-of-reach drug prices. (Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout)
Speaking before a health care symposium at the conservative Manhattan Institute last November, Alex Azar, then the president of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., addressed the elephant in the room. He explained that pharmaceutical companies raise drug prices to accommodate large rebates paid to third-party middlemen and insurance companies, creating a system of kickbacks that pads profit margins while sending prescription drug prices through the roof.
Advocates warn that Alex Azar engaged in the very reimbursement schemes he criticizes before leaving Eli Lilly earlier this year.
“That means that a significant number of people who already paid premiums for their health insurance then end up paying more than their insurer does for a medicine,” Azar said, adding that some patients may go without medicine rather than pay high out-of-pocket costs to fill a prescription.
Within months of Azar’s speech, Eli Lilly and other big drug companies were hit with a barrage of lawsuits and government investigations questioning the rising price of insulin and other diabetes medications and accusing major manufacturers of price fixing. As Truthout has reported, Eli Lilly raised the price of Humalog, a fast-acting form of insulin, by 345 percent during Azar’s eight-year tenure at the company.
However, it was Azar’s comments on rising drug prices and the plight of consumers that helped him become President Trump’s latest nominee for health secretary. Azar served as deputy health secretary under the Bush administration, and the White House says his experience in both the public and private sectors makes him the perfect candidate for reining in drug prices at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Advocates say Azar’s ideas for lowering drug costs could make an already confusing system even more opaque. They also warn that he engaged in the very reimbursement schemes he…