Giving Compass' Take:

· With Congress under pressure to lower prescription drug prices, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar pushes for the passing of a drug discount plan in the private market. 

· What are some other ways Congress can lower health care costs for patients? 

· Check out this article to read more about purchasing prescription drugs.


Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is pressing Congress to pass a bill to completely upend the way prescription drugs are purchased through private insurance.

Azar’s remarks come on the heels of a new proposal from the Trump administration that would eliminate Medicare rebates paid by drug manufacturers to insurers, and give them directly to patients at the pharmacy counter.

Azar said he wants Congress to go further and apply the change to the private market.

“Congress has an opportunity to follow through on their calls for transparency, too, by passing our proposal into law immediately and extending it into the commercial drug market,” Azar said Friday during a speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The proposed rule would scale back the legal protections on secretive rebates between drug manufacturers, insurers and pharmacy benefits managers as a way to lower drug prices for Medicare.

Read the full article about prescription drug prices by Nathaniel Weixel at The Hill.