Senators grill HHS Secretary Alex Azar on status of migrant children
Azar went before Senate Finance Committee to talk drug costs, got grilled on immigration.
Credit: C-SPAN
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar went before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday to talk about Medicare Part D prescription drug costs and got grilled on the more than 2,000 migrant children in his department's custody.
HHS has 2,047 children in custody, many in foster homes, Azar said. By law, under detention limits set by Congress, children are placed in HHS custody if their parents are in immigration detention with the Department of Homeland Security for longer than 20 days, he told Senators.
But hundreds have been reunified with their parents, he said.
Azar said every parent has access to the whereabouts of their children.
Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan said there are over 60 children in foster homes in her state. When she last contacted agencies that were placing the children, representatives said they were not given information on where the parents were.
Senator Michael Bennet asked when all of the children would be reunited.
"I cannot reunite while their parents are in custody," he said.
Azar said he has ordered his team to have the children ready so they can be reconnected when the parents are released.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas asked Azar about reports that 83 percent of children in HHS custody had come across the Mexican border alone.
Azar confirmed the figure, saying that most of the kids in HHS care come unaccompanied by a parent. Some are left as infants at the border, he said.
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio asked about reports of children being prevented from comforting one another and Senator Mark Warner asked about minors being kept in solitary confinement with no clothing and bags over their head.
Azar said he tried to track down the basis for these reports and found no validity to them. There is no policy against children comforting one another, he said.
In answer to a question on a report on the emotional and psychological effects on separated children Azar said, "I share your concern. None of us want these impacts on children."
President Donald Trump has ended the policy of separating children from their parents when adults cross the border illegally.
"It's a policy straight from the pit of hell," Senator Bob Casey said. "Zero tolerance will continue to separate children."
When the conversation did turn to drug pricing, Senators expressed specific concern about price hikes for naloxone, which is used by emergency personnel in treating opioid overdoses.
In 2005, the drug was available for $1, Senator Stabenow said. It's now selling for 15 times as much. The auto injector sells for $4,000 for a two-pack. Narcan sells for about $150 for two-pack, she said.
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio said drug companies suffer no repercussions when they increase their list prices.
"They're jacking up the price and making millions off the back of hard-working Americans," said Brown who has introduced the Stop Price Gouging Act. The bill would hold drug companies accountable, with penalties based on the severity of their price gouging.
Azar's department is working from the plan put forward by the President's Commission to lower drug costs and move to a system which encourages pharmacy benefit managers to lower list prices, he said.
Under the commission, five states have the authority to test to see if they can get a better deal on formulary pricing by running the program more like Medicare Part D.
Legislation is needed to require drug manufacturers to report drug pricing information, America's Health Insurance Plans President and CEO Matt Eyles said, in submitted testimony to the Senate Finance Committee.
Eyles, as did Azar, previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry.
"I sat in many a pricing committee discussion," Eyles said by statement. "Not once did anyone ever say 'How much did we spend on research and development?' It was always 'What could we charge? What was the market willing to pay for it?'"
On average, approximately 700 drugs have increased their prices by 10 percent or more a year in the past five years, Eyles said. The vast majority of them are branded drugs.
About 95 percent of specialty drugs and 85 percent of orphan drugs cost more than $10,000 per patient per year, he said. Few branded and no generic drugs have annual per patient cost exceeding this threshold.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
