You can see the schedule for this term plus a list of all current justices and search all their appearances on cspan. With video on demand, you can watch all the oral arguments weve aired at cspan. Org supreme court. Health and Human Services secretary nominee alex azor testified yesterday at his confirmation hearing about Prescription Drug prices, medicaid and medicare and experience at eli lilly. Tommy thompson and mike leavitt, former Health Secretaries under george w. Bush introduced him to the Senate Finance committee. [inaudible conversations] i think we better get it going. This meeting will come to order. Welcome everybody to this mornings hearing. Today the committeeg. Will consider and examine the nomination of alex azor to save as serve as the secretary of health, one of the most important jobs anywhere in the world. Like to welcome him to the finance committee this morning. Thank you for being here and for your willingness to serve in this important capacity. He certainly has his work cut out foror him. It is a massive, Sprawling Department that oversees trillions of dollars and encompasses all areas of our nation Healthcare System. As a result, if confirmed, his work will impact the lives of every single american. That is a big job. It requires knowledge, experience and most importantly strong leadership. Fortunately our new leadership brings us to the Table Including six years working at the highest level of hhs. During its time he played key rolls inlu implementing new policies including Medicare Part d ander Medicare Advantage program. He was also a leader in hhs response to the anthrax attacks shortly after 911. The monkeypox crisis and hurricane katrina, just to mention a few. If confirmed he will be congresses prior contact on all matters relating to our nations Healthcare System. He will be responsible for the ongoing effort to bring down costs, provide greater access to care and give patients more choices when it comes to coverage. Ar whether were talking aboute. Work to modernize Health Programs like medicare and medicaid to preserve them for future generations, innovating the chip program or reforming the private market, he will be the administrations primary policy driver. Has made clear his intention to address the growing Opioid Epidemic and continues to ravage, that continues to ravage communities across the country including my home state of utah. It is robbing families of loved ones and employers are productive, abled workers andse communities of the safety and security that once enjoyed. This is important to everyone on this committee but reticulated me and other members. I look forward to working with him to figure out how hhs and cms can make improvements to save lives. I coauthored the Patient Access and effective Drug Enforcement act which was recently, others me in relationship to the Opioid Epidemic. This requires hhs to submit a report Congress Regarding obstacles to legitimate Patient Access to controlled substances and issues. [inaudible] the report is long overdue so i would like to impress the importance of getting this report congress so that we can have an opportunity to review and make any necessary changes to the law that may help to turn the tide of this epidemic. Hope to get them to produce this report as soon as possible once confirmed. He has been committed to these believe hisd i records show he is more than capable of leading hhs through these new years. There are some on the committee who have already made up their mind and are committed to opposing his nomination. This is essentially part for the course for the high profile nominees that have come before us, and, as previous cases, none of the attacks are focused on his record, his experience for his qualifications. Instead we are hearing talk about supposedly Revolving Doors and nonexisting conflicts of interest. I believe he is more than capable of responding to his critics on his own. I would like to take a moment to address some of the more prominent attacks referred this far. Opponents claim his work in the pharmaceutical industry has been, where he has been a Senior Executive for the past ten years disqualifies him to serve in this position. I would think my colleagues would want to avoid creating standards for setting new precedents were work in the private sector is somehow a knock against a number. That certainly was not the standard they applied to nominees from the Previous Administration and it should not apply to this one. Mr. Azor is committed to fully committed to all necessary ethics requirements including the trumpet ministration requirement prohibiting nominees for participating in matters involving their former employers and clients for two years after the end of their government service. They are committed to divesting any Financial Holdings that could present a conflict of interest or even the appearance of such a conflict. Were not talking about anything unethical. We are not talking about a nominee attempting to make profit off his position. The private sector, in dealing with the policies and regulations that come from government agencies, in my view our mark in favor of his qualifications. His work in the pharmaceutical industry will give him important insights regarding the impact of policies designed and implemented by hhs. When you add that knowledge and background to the years he spent as a senior official at hhs, you have an extraordinary resume for in hhs secretary. Once again i believe he is more than capable of responding to what has so far been empty criticisms. By any standard he is well qualified to serve as secretary of hhs. My hope is we could have a highly productive hearing and support his nomination in short order. I think you once again for being willing to go through this and to appear here today. I want to thank you again for returning to the call to serve the American People. I personally look forward to your testimony. Before turning to the senator, i would like to emphasize my support for the Childrens HealthInsurance Program and my commitment to making sure it gets reauthorized. It is one of the most Important Programs i forked on and got through. Of course with the help of senator kennedy. And others. We have a bipartisan agreement that was reported on the committee and i believe in the long term. Congress has passed patches and fixes but the time for a shortterm solution is over. The chip needs to be extended and i will do all i can to get it done. Families and states are counting on us. I now turn it over to senator wyden. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. I very much appreciate your convening the hearing and colleagues, this is the first time we havee been together since chairman hatch has announced his retirement. I would just like to take a moment, because we talked on the phone to state publicly what i mentioned to you. First, youve always been a gentleman, every member of this body feels that. We know about your passion. We know about your dedication. We know about the fact that youve always had an ear for your colleagues. Often when you and i talk we say wher what are my democratic friends up too. Who should we be listening to. Always there with an ear. And, i would just like to note something that i dont everybody knows, but chairman hatch was a boxer and basketball players know a little bit about endurance. Colleagues, just picture, 40 years in the ring, 40 years a boxer. That is real endurance. I am sure we are going to have other colleagues talk at greater lengths, but since this is the first time weve actually been together publicly, i wanted to note that and also appreciate the fact that you mentioned chip, as you know we have teamed up on this now for quite some time. I would like to think that the fact that we came out of the gate early, moved the house, not all are approaches were bipartisan, particularly as it came to revenue, but n i think we all understand that we have got to get this done and we have got to get it done quickly. The American People said to me during the break, what happened at the end of the year is that the kids got a patch and if you are powerfully iran a Multinational Corporation and you got permanent relief. We are better thann that mr. Chairman. I am looking forward to working closely with you. We have virtual unanimously and getting thisam across the line and ensuring families dont go to bed at night in panic about the prospect of an emergency illness the. Next day. Its critical. I look forward to working with you on that. Now to todays business. The same, trump who said almost exactly a year ago that price hiking Drug Companies with murder away has nominated a Drug Company Executive with a documented history of raising Prescription Drug prices. Mr. Azor is here with the committee, nominated to serve as the v next secretary of health and Human Services. It is my view the issues he will work on, if confirmed, will be defining issues, defining domestic issues in 2018. Thats because the American People heard a lot of promises two years ago about how great their healthcare would be under President Trump and how the era of skyrocketing drug prices was over. Americans are going to want to know, come this november if all those big promises, if all those big pledges they heard in thehe fall of 2016 actually happened. To say the administration hasnt yet delivered would be a wild understatement. Now mr. Azor was the president of the subsidiary from 2012 until 2018. He served on the Steering Committee which gave him a major role over drug price increases for every product marketed in the United States. Now, chairman hatch noted, and i appreciate him doing this because he and i talk about this and focusing on the record, the Public Record so our staff has done a fair amount of homework, and i want to spend some time looking at rthe track record. The price of the bone growth drug used to treat osteoporosis more than doubled on his watch. The price of the drug used to treat Heart Disease more than doubled. The price of the drug used to treat adhd more than doubled. The price of the drug used to treat diabetes more than doubled. These are just some of the drugs that were under his purview as head of the company. He told the committees staff that while he chaired the committee, companies, Pricing Committee, he never, not even once signed off on a decrease in the price of the drug. Now this morning the committee, in my view, is likely to hear from mr. Azor and colleagues about the way things work is. The system that is at fault. Its the system that ought to be blamed. My view is there is a fair amount of validity in that. The system is broken. He was part of that system. Given ample opportunity to providee specific examples as a nominee of how he fixed it. He has come up empty. If he is confirmed, it will be the first time the president and his team broke their promises. A virtual parade has come before this group and promised to uphold the law with respect to the Affordable Care act. Right out of the gate we remember tom price telling us it would be his job to administer the law at hhs, not be a legislator, the track record doesnt look so great because in effect, on day one it sure seems that the sabotage policy kicked in, along with allies in congress, the trump team wasted no time undermining private Health Insurance markets, emphasized private Health Insurance markets. They cut the open Enrollment Period in half, advertising budgets were slashed, it became harder for people having difficulty signing up for coverage to get in person assistance. They attacked a rule that says women have to have guaranteed nocost access to contraceptive. Fortunately there has been a move that has been held up in the courts. Whats been particularly troubling to me, because it goes back to my days as director of thell great panthers, the Administration Made it easier to sell junk insurance that fails people when they havent emergency. All in all thee Trump Administration has made millions of people help care worse and there doesnt seem to be a serious plan to undo the damage. Mr. Azor will have to explain whether he will continue that policy. We talked about in the office yesterday. He should because it stands in stark contrast to what mr. Azor did when he was a member of the Bush Administration to help launch Medicare Part d. He was part of a roadshow and Public Events with local media appearances. When it came to promoting the medicare prescriptionpt drug benefit, which i along with democrats who voted for it, he too would like he was in the grateful dead. Now he is set to join administration and has tweeted less about open enrollment been thanksgiving safety. Now welfare reform is coming up he believes medicaid counts as welfare but everybody asks has a different answer. For what exactly welfare reform means. The Common Thread to the republican talk is pretty obvious. Substantial, jacobian cuts to programs like medicare, medicaid and i Hunger Program support for struggling of families. With respect to medicaid, for millions, this program is at the heart of healthcare in america and it spans generations from newborns to two out of three older people in nursing homes. Today medicaid is built on a guarantee. The trump team says it wants toto end that. Those are public statements. End it. They said motion plans that make it harder for people to get the carege they need. In some cases its older people, sometimes its folks with disabilities. They need longterm care. In other cases its adults of limited means. People who struggle to climb the economic ladder. That is my background so im interested in hearing what he has in mind with respect to seniors. To me, risking the medicaid guarantee so essential for longterm care for the eligible seniors, i want everybody to know thats a nonstarter here. Furthermore, my view is you cant get ahead in life if you dont have your health so endangering the health of lowincome americans, in my view, is the absolute wrong way to go. There are going to be other issues that fall under the welfare on ballot. He has no experience in those areas. I am one who feels people with business backgrounds, those viewpoints can be welcome but its got to be combined with a set of values that are in line with what i believe are the real priorities for the American People. That is my sense of where we are and i would like to wrap up, the leaders on both sides of this committee previously had regular meetings and calls with sitting hhs secretaries. I see him who went out of his way when he was secretary to have those kinds of meetings and a whole host of democratic secretaries did the same thing. Asteld like to just we wrap up that in my meeting yesterday he noted that he wasnt going to go along with the last hhs secretary who broke that bipartisan tradition to the detriment of the senate and in my view good policy and without any prompting he said he was interested in having those kinds of meetings that he would provide himself. Thank you for being here, thank you for our meeting yesterday and we look forward to your statement and questions. Thank you. Thank you. Here to introduce him are to distinguish former secretaries of health and Human Services. First we will hear from secretary thompson. Its nice to see again. Its been quite a while since weve seen you. We had a lot to do with each other way back when. You served as the head of hhs from 2001 to 2005. Prior to that time he served four terms ass the governor of wisconsin. The longest tenure of anybody in that states history. As governor he was pioneer and a number of initiatives including welfare reform which gained national prominence. As a secretary of hhs he oversaw the passage and implementation of Medicare Part d and let the department through the aftermath of september 11, 2001. Next you will hear from a very personal friend of mine and in introduction for my good friend Michael Leavitt who headed hhs from 2,522,009. Before that mike served as the administrator of the Environmental Protection agency for two years, as governor of utah for almost a decade, as governor he presided over some very prosperous times for our state and held a number of National Leadership positions. As secretary of hhs he sounded the alarm about medicares longterm fiscal difficulties. Both secretary thompson and secretary leavitt respected public servic servant spread their opinion should carry quite a bit of weight around here. I know they mean a lot to me. I want to thank you both for being here to speak on behalf of the nomination of mr. Azor. We start wi