HHS Secretary Alex Azar released the following statement regarding President Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address:

“Lowering the cost of healthcare and improving the health of Americans has been a key priority of President Trump during his first three years in office, and tonight, he laid out the results that his leadership has produced. American life expectancy is rising again, drug deaths are down for the first time in three decades, and death rates from cancer are dropping. Retail drug prices are down, Medicare and Obamacare premiums are down, patients are getting access to the data they need to control their care, and seniors on Medicare have access to new, patient-centered options and benefits. President Trump has aggressively taken on health challenges that haven’t gotten the attention they deserve, like improving kidney health and ending the HIV epidemic here in America. Many challenges remain, and, this year, HHS will expand our focus to new issues, like improving maternal health and transforming healthcare in rural America, and continue to work with Congress to deliver commonsense healthcare reforms. The President is fulfilling his promise to protect what works in our healthcare system and make it better, and more success is still to come.”