If HHS Nominee Is Approved He’s Set To Inherit An Agency Rocked By Internal Strife, ‘Dysfunction’
Running the Department of Health and Human Services is notoriously challenging, but lately it has faced widespread criticism that it is unresponsive and neglecting staff advice. Former pharmaceutical executive Alex Azar has been nominated to head the agency and will have his Senate hearing later this month.
The Wall Street Journal:
New Health And Human Services Secretary Would Inherit Troubled Agency
The next head of the Department of Health and Human Services will be handed an agency facing criticism from state officials and internal strife. HHS, which employs about 80,000 people, oversees Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and such agencies as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has been caught up in the fallout over the Republicans’ failure to repeal the law legislatively and an ethics scandal over government-funded travel that led to the resignation of Secretary Tom Price in September. (Armour, Radnofsky and Wilde Mathews, 11/17)
The Hill:
HHS Nominee Azar To Get Senate Hearing Nov. 29
The Senate Health Committee will hold a hearing Nov. 29 on the nomination of Alex Azar by President Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). On Monday, Trump tapped Azar to take over the post Tom Price vacated, after details were revealed about how he took repeated trips on government and private jets costing more than $1 million to taxpayers. (Roubein, 11/16)
In other administration news —
The Wall Street Journal:
Discord Threatens Federal Role At Indian Hospitals
The federal government’s management of three Indian hospitals that treat thousands of patients is crumbling, a failure that could jeopardize care on some of the nation’s poorest and most remote reservations. All three hospitals are run by the federal Indian Health Service, which was created to fulfill U.S. legal obligations to provide health care to members of Indian tribes. (Weaver and Frosch, 11/16)
