President Donald Trump named former Eli Lilly & Co.executive Alex Azar to lead the Department of Health andHuman Services after agency’s past chief resigned amid blowbackover his taxpayer-funded private jet travel.

“Happy to announce, I am nominating Alex Azar to be the next HHSSecretary. He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drugprices!” Trump tweeted Monday.

If confirmed, Azar will take over the administration’s management of the Affordable Care Act. Trumpand Congressional Republicans have called to repeal the health law,and the administration has taken steps to destabilize it, such ascutting funding for some programs and refusing to pay subsidies tohealth insurers. He’ll also be a key figure on drug costs.

Trump has been highly critical of the drug industry, saying thatpharmaceutical companies are “getting away with murder” andthreatening to use the federal government’s buying power to bringdown prices.

Drug costs

However he’s taken no concrete action yet to do much on prices,and the former drug executive’s appointment may continue the trendof strong talk but little action, said Spencer Perlman, director ofhealth-care research at Veda Partners, a policy analysis firm.

“It is very unlikely the administration will take aggressiveregulatory actions to control prescription drug prices,” Perlmansaid in a note to clients Monday. “The administration’s tepidresponse to drug pricing has not matched the president’s heatedrhetoric.”

Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a consulting firm,also didn’t think Azar represented a change in direction onpharmaceutical policy. “His appointment will not change thepresident’s rhetoric,” Mendelson said in a phone interview.

Before his time at Lilly, Azar served as deputy secretary at HHSunder President George W. Bush. One former Obama administrationofficial said that experience could help him at the agency.

“While we certainly differ in a number of important policyareas, I have reason to hope he would make a good HHS secretary,”said Andy Slavitt, who ran the Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices under the last administration and who has been a frequentcritic of efforts to derail Obamacare. Slavitt said he hoped Azarwould “avoid repeating this mistakes of his predecessorover-politicizing Americans’ access to health care.”

Running Obamacare

Azar, who ran Indianapolis-based Lilly’s U.S. operations untilearlier this year, has been an advocate for more state flexibilityunder Obamacare. That matches up with what Republicans have pushedfor, such as in a seemingly stalled bipartisan bill to fund insurersubsidies that help lower-income people with health costs.

As secretary, Azar would have broad authority over theprogram.

“I’m not one to say many good things about Obamacare, but one ofthe nice things in it is it does give a tremendous amount authorityto the secretary,” Azar said during an interview with Bloomberg TVin June. “There are still changes that can be made to make it worka little better than it has been.”

There are signs that the law is gaining popular support despitethe repeal efforts. In recent state elections in Virginia,Democrats won a competitive governors race that saw health careemerge as a top issue. In Maine, residents voted to expand Medicaidunder the Affordable Care Act. Early enrollment in Obamacare plans earlierthis month was also up considerably compared to last year.

Trump’s first HHS secretary, Tom Price, resigned in Septemberafter his extensive use of private and military jets at taxpayer expensewas revealed. Azar must be approved by the Senate.

Senate confirmation

Senator Orrin Hatch, who heads the Senate Finance Committee thatwill review Azar’s nomination, called on Trump’s pick to help“right the wrongs of this deeply flawed law.”

“For too long, hardworking, middle-class families have beenforced to bear the brunt of Obamacare’s failures in the form ofhigher premiums and fewer choices,” Hatch said in a statement.

Ron Wyden, the senior Democrat on the panel, said he wouldclosely scrutinize Azar’s record.

“At every turn, the president has broken his promises toAmerican families to lower health care costs, expand access, andbring down the high price of prescription drugs,” Wyden said in astatement.

Azar left Lilly in January, several months after another seniorexecutive was named to succeed then-CEO John Lechleiter. A lawyerby training, Azar previously clerked for Antonin Scalia on theSupreme Court.

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