Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told department staff on Tuesday that President Donald Trump wants "very big and bold things," The Washington Post reports.
"One thing I really love about us working with President Trump is that he wants us to do very big and bold things," Azar said in a staff meeting that was streamed online, "and a lot of the areas where in the past your sort-of more traditional political operators might say, 'That's untouchable, don't do this, don't do that,' [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator] Seema [Verma] and I don't get that kind of guidance. It's, 'Do the right thing, solve the right problems, come up with the big solutions and execute against them. And by the way, do it yesterday.' That's courage."
During the half-hour meeting, Azar identified four priorities for the agency, which he said President Donald Trump was involved in deciding: lower the price of drugs and private insurance, change payments to be based on care quality, and respond to the ongoing opioid crisis.
"These four areas really need the power of the office of the secretary and the presidency to direct the transformational changes we need," Azar said.
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