Tackling the high price of prescriptions drugs in the U.S.is still “an absolute priority,” Health and Human ServicesSecretary Tom Price told senators Thursday.

Pharmaceutical companies have been the target of PresidentDonald Trump ever since he said they were “getting away withmurder” in January. While he has threatened on severaloccasions to force them to bid for government business as a way toreduce prices, he hasn’t translated the threat into action.

For instance, he didn’t include any drug pricing proposals in his recent budgetrequest, a document usually seen as a list of priorities for anadministration.

Price told the Senate Finance Committee that Trump has asked hisdepartment for recommendations on policies that would reduce thecosts of medications. The secretary said he charged the Centers forMedicare and Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administrationand the Health Resources and Services Administration with coming upwith proposals.

Related: AARP looks at high cost of prescriptiondrugs

Price also has been meeting with pharmacists, care providers andpharmacy-benefit managers in recent weeks to discuss ideas formaking drugs more affordable.

“It’s an absolute priority and we look forward to working withanyone who’s interested in holding down or bringing down drugprices for the American people,” Price said.

One way to lower costs is to enable more generics -- which arecheaper versions of a brand name -- to come to the market. FDACommissioner Scott Gottlieb said Monday that the agency is lookingat how to push applications to the front of the line in cases wherethere are fewer than three competing generic manufacturers. The FDAis seeking to eliminate within a year the backlog of 2,640generic-drug applications, Gottlieb said.

Health insurers

At the Senate hearing, Price declined to answer a separatequestion about a critical issue for health insurers: whether theadministration will fund cost-sharing reduction payments made toinsurers to help reduce low-income Americans’ health expenses. Hecited citing an ongoing lawsuit over the payments.

The payments, made by the government on a monthly basis near theend of each month, were instituted under the Affordable Care Act, alaw that the president calls a failure and wants repealed. TheTrump administration hasn’t committed to funding the subsidiesbeyond last month’s allotment.

Without the payments, insurers have threatened to drop out ofthe Affordable Care Act’s markets or substantially raise premiums,and customers could face thousands of dollars in unexpected costs.Some states and insurers have blamed the lack of certainty inWashington among the reasons for the rate hikes and marketexits.

The latest one was Washington state on Thursday. Six insurersfiled to sell plans on the ACA individual market for 2018, leavingtwo counties with no coverage, which could mean more than 3,300people without an Obamacare option next year.

‘Sabotaging the process’

“The proposed drop in insurers and coverage areas clearlyindicates to me that the uncertainty the Trump administrationand the GOP-controlled Congress has sowed for months issabotaging the progress we’ve made,”Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said in astatement.

Earlier in the week, Anthem Inc. said it would drop out of theindividual market in Ohio, possibly leaving 13,000 people in20 counties without option under the program next year.

“Nobody is interested in the system dying,” Price said at hishearing. “Nobody is interested in sabotaging the system.”

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