we contacted mrs. azar where mr. azar was this weekend as the crisis of immigrants and hundreds of kids were moved into secretary azar's purpose built facility to hold them. secretary alex azar did not comment anything to us and he has been saying everything is fine and nothing to worry about. he told "the washington post" that yes of course, he visited these facilities where the agency he runs and of course he it vitsited them. he did not say which city and when but he did tell "the post" that he's been there. his office did not confirm which shelter secretary azar has visited or when he was there. secretary azar insisted that there are no reasons to worry about these kids taken away from their parents. there is no reason to think there would be any problems getting these kids back to their parents. his agency is on it and he's keeping these kids and parents in touch. >> secretary azar told the post today, we keep in touch with the parents any any circumstances to ensure placements with relatives or if the parent is

mr. azar, i appreciate your service. i can't think of anybody better qualified to serve in the position you are serving in, so i appreciate the expertise and experience you bring to this role. i wanted to just raise the issue because in addition to the blueprint that you rolled out to try to control prescription drug costs, there are other cost drivers that we see in the health care system that the administration has tried to address. one is the department of labor has now issued regulations to make possible for more people to get access to association health care plans so they could take advantage, not of the individual market, but of the employer provided insurance market and find their premiums substantially lower. i would note that people in the individual market, the 9 million people in the individual market, do not have any subsidies, and they seen their costs rise by 105% since 2013, which is unaffordable by any measure. the second thing i just wanted to raise with you, i'm sure you are aware of, is the good work

we contacted secretary azar's office to ask where mr. azar was this weekend as the crisis of kids taken away from their parents and held in custody of his agency hit a boiling point as hundreds of kids were moved into secretary azar's brand new purpose-built facility to hold them. secretary azar's office would not comment to us on where he was this weekend. secretary azar has been saying all along throughout this crisis that basically everything's fine here, nothing to worry about. he told the "washington post" yesterday that yes, of course he has personally visited these facilities where the agency he runs is holding all these kids apart from their parents. he said of course he's visited them. he wouldn't say which facilities he has visited or when. but he did tell the "post" definitely he has been there in person, he's seen them. his office today would also not confirm to us which shelters secretary azar has actually visited or when he was there. secretary azar has also been insisting that there's no reason to worry about these kids being t

mr. azar, is hhs aware of rebate walls and if yes, what types of actions would hhs consider to limit the use of rebate walls? >> so, we are and i am very much aware of these rebate walls that can prevent competition and new entrants into the system. that is yet again a reason why i think we need to get at this question of rebates in the pbm world. these are drug companies. i don't like that practice. i think it's using their market power in ways that is not appropriate. and so i want to sure we're looking at that. i think congress certainlyou look at that question as part of this whole initiative. that's where senator isaacson's question about indication based pricing can be helpful because sometimes that's a company that has a drug with many indications and they use it as leverage over drugs that have a single indication. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator young. senator casey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and ranking m and thank you, mr. secretary. i wanted to -- i know you've been through n

mr. azar's department opening the tent city, first of its kind to house migrant children in tornillo, texasis is a story that has seized the national imagination with pictures. everyone can see the impact of this policy. tonight adds one more picture so everyone can see the urgency and priorities of some trump cabinet officials in charge of the impact of this policy. our thanks to devon for the photograph, and we'll be right back. [thoughtful sigh] still nervous about buying a house? a little. thought i could de-stress with some zen gardening. at least we don't have to worry about homeowners insurance. just call geico. geico helps with homeowners insurance? good to know. been doing it for years. that's really good to know. i should clean this up. i'll get the dustpan. behind the golf clubs. get to know geico. and see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be. money managers are pretty much the same. all but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advi

mr. azar's department opening the tent city, first of its kind to house migrant children in tornillo, texass is a story that has seized the national imagination with pictures. everyone can see the impact of this policy. tonight adds one more picture so everyone can see the urgency and priorities of some trump cabinet officials in charge of the impact of this policy. our thanks to devon for the photograph, and we'll be right back. # # ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, ... with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal though

you see mr. azar right there on the right.

mr. azar, is hhs aware of rebate laws, and if yes what actions would they consider to limit the use of rebate walls? >> we are aware of rebate walls that can prevent new competition and entrance into the system. that's why we need get at this question of rebates in the pbm world. these are drug companies. i don't like that practice. i think it's using their market power in ways that's not appropriate. i want to make sure we're looking at that. i think congress could look at this question as part of this whole initiative. that's where senator isaac's question about indication based is helpful. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator young. senator casey. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member, and thank you mr. secretary. i wanted to -- i know you've been through a number of these issues in the course of the hearing, but i want to raise one i'm not sure we've talked about directly. the question of price clarity, as you know, and i believe this is not addressed in the blueprint, when someone

especially pleased to note this hearing comes just after secretary azar has celebrated his three-month anniversary in his new position. mr. secretary, we can't find another cabinet secretary in recent memory who has made an oversighthearing with this committee such an early priority. thank you. ed to note this hearing comes just after secretary azar has celebrated his three-month anniversary in his new position. mr. secretary, we can't find another cabinet secretary in recent memory who has made an oversighthearing with this committee such an early priority. thank you. this committee's dedication to oversightand building working relationships with the various administrative departments are well-known and well-documented. so far in this congress, we have been pleased to hear from secretary devos about theirpriorities for the management of those departments. the members of this committee are responsible for a wide legislative jurisdiction, meaning the work we do can impact americans in all stages and walks of life. in many cases, the department of health and human services is tasked with carrying out some of the lawsthat h

mr. lewis, you're recognize for three minutes. >> thank you, secretary azar. the federal childcare and development block program aims to foster, as you know, quality development for low income families for childcare. it provides states with flexibility to meet these needs at the various states. programs include requirements for states to monitor providers that receive federal funds. now, unfortunately there has been a situation in my home state of minnesota where we've got a number of day-care providers that are openly violating federal and state laws and regulations, taking money for personal use, using the money to set up a fraudulent childcare client and providing a kickback has been reported. this is a major issue. there are allegations that not just several, you've got 23 childcare or day-care centers either closed or under investigation. the fraud may go as high as $100 million. think about that in fiscal year 2018, minnesota received $120 million in federal funding. the state contributed about $50 million in matching and maintenance funds. and we may ha

thank you for being here, mr. azar. i appreciate the fact. just an aside, words matter. and it is disappointing that when questions and assertions are given without then the opportunity for you to answer that, that's a problem. and i hope that that doesn't continue. also for the record, when assertions are made, for instance about your -- the administration's position on life, abortion, and the like, it should be noted that there is no safe abortion. there is no safe abortion. life always is taken. and i thank you and the administration for taking a stand appropriately on that. as you know, this committee has had great concern, and ultimately support, on the issue of associated health plans. we've sent legislation out dealing with that. in january, the department of labor issued a proposed rule to expand access to hps under existing statutes. in your opinion, when finalized, will the department of labor's rule result in more or fewer coverage options for small employers and their employees, and secondarily, can you expand on how hhs and dol are working together to achiev

mrs. trump was joinedy alex azar, secretary of health and human services-- the department tasked with overseei they're apprehended by border ctrol. an h.h.s. officifirmed that for now, children separated from parents are still going to foster care homes and facilities all across the country.si as for prent trump... >> we don't want to have children separated from their parents. >> reporter: he defended his actions in a cabinet meeting today but seemed to give conflicting statements on whether families would stay together. saying both this... >> i signed a very good executive order yesterday, but that's only limited-- no matter how you cut it, it leads to separation ultimately. >> reporter: and this: >> i'm directing h.h.s., d.h.s., and d.o.j. to work together to keep illegal immigrant families together during the immigration process and to reunite these previously separated groups. >> reporter: u.s. customs ander bord protection stated today that it would now attempt to keep families together, but detained, as it continues "to refer for prosecution adults who cross the border illegally." but p

azar: certainly. >> thank you mr. chairman. to thank you, want for appearing today and for putting up the list of potential to lowerat can be done list price and out-of-pocket costs so people can comment. i appreciate you soliciting comments. purchasing arrangements can provide opportunity to leverage health outcome data to ensure we pay and their value. one thing that may allow mayerent prices to be paid depend upon indication. we usually don't track indication data and public programs, certainly not in fashion.zed, precise can you lk abo the scof infrastructure that would be needed ahether your health technology systems might be modified to reflect that? .> thank you right now we stand in the way of indication based pricing. i look forward to the opportunity to work with congress on ways for that. there is a single unified price. we are not able to permit a drug to be priced at a higr price or at a lower price in a larger population where might have lesser impact. basically prevent indication-based utilization management. if

mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until health and human services secretary alex azar is testifying this morning about the policies and priorities of his agency at a hearing of the house education and the work force committee. watch that live now on c-span3. and we'll show that hearing tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern ere on c-span. tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2 -- the memorial service marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination of robert f. kennedy from arlington national cemetery. featured speakers include family, friends, members of congress, and former president bill clinton. watch the r.f.k. 50th memorial service at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2, c-span.org, or listen n the free c-span radio app. >> president trump is planning to hold a summit with north korean leader kim jong un next week in singapore. the heritage foundation in washington hosted korea experts suit. t they feltbe outcome of 1 this is an hour and a half. >> well, welcome. first, if you got a phone, if you could turn it off or turn it to vibrate just so we don't get an interruption in t

azar over high drug prices. watch this. >> he said there would be massive decreases in prices within two weeks. it's been two weeks, and there have been no decreases and an indication of increase. mr on drug companies, but under your approach it seems that the drug companies can just keep charging people more and more. the only thing you've done is set it up so maybe if a drug company reduces a price, you can give them a cheap pr moment. stuart: well, we didn't get a chance to hear aczar's response there. -- azar's response. we've got "beating obamacare" author betsy mccaughey -- will you answer -- >> i'd like to answer. stuart: why didn't drug prices come down? >> because profits are not the cause of these high drug prices. it's true that americans are suffering from pharmaceutical shock, but the reason is foreign free-loading. and the president is going to fix it with trade deals. stuart: what do you mean by foreign free-loading? >> okay. because look at the profit margins on drug companies. they're about in the middle of the pack, right? 16.2% on average. there are some outliers, but that's about it. stuart: okay. >> they've actually underperformed the dow since 2014. but who's