Sen. Chuck Grassley today met with Rep. Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.  Grassley is a senior member and former chairman of the Finance Committee, which will consider the nomination.  Grassley made the following comment on the meeting.

“I congratulated Dr. Price on his nomination and told him I’d appreciate having a member of Congress at the head of such a critical agency.  Congress is the people’s branch of government, and having a member of Congress at the agency would bring responsiveness to the public and I hope to Congress on our oversight inquiries.

“We discussed the importance of caring for people with complex medical needs, such as cystic fibrosis and Down syndrome, in Medicaid.  Coordinated care for such individuals is a major, ongoing challenge.  I said making sure taxpayer money is well-spent is always a priority, so even if we give states more control over Medicaid, we would still need federal oversight to make sure services are delivered as intended.  

“We discussed critical access hospitals.  There are 82 such hospitals located throughout Iowa and many others throughout the country.  They provide a lifeline in small, rural communities.  I raised the ongoing problem of doctors in rural states like Iowa getting reimbursed less than their counterparts in other parts of the country, despite regularly offering better quality of care.  This is something I’d like to see fixed definitively.

“Dr. Price and I discussed soaring drug prices and some of the remedies I’m working on.  These include reimportation, the CREATES Act to address abuses by brand drug companies to block generic competition, and the bill to limit pay-for-delay agreements between brand and generic companies that delay the entry of cheaper drugs into the market.  We touched on the practice of ‘evergreening,’ where drug makers slightly tweak a product to hang onto a patent.  

“It was a good conversation about some of the many issues of interest to the people of Iowa and the American people on the whole.  I look forward to covering these issues and many more at Dr. Price’s nomination hearing.”

 

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