Daniel Best, the health official overseeing the Trump administration’s efforts to lower drug costs, has died, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday.
“It is with tremendous sadness that I learned of the passing of our friend and colleague,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “I had the great privilege to know Dan Best for the past decade. He joined me here at HHS out of a desire to serve the American people by making healthcare more affordable. He brought his deep expertise and passion to this task with great humility and collegiality. All of us who served with Dan at HHS and in the administration mourn his passing and extend our thoughts and prayers to his wife Lisa and the entire Best family at this difficult time.”
The administration did not disclose a cause of death, and HHS said it did not have any additional comments.
MORE:
www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/trump-senior-drug-pricing-official-dies
“His death comes a week after President Donald Trump announced a new drug pricing initiative that would allow Medicare to determine the price it pays for some drugs, based on the cheaper prices charged for the drugs in other countries. Trump said drugs in the United States frequently cost many times more than they do abroad.”
www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/11/ohios_daniel_best_who_led_hhs.html
He was only 49 years old!
h/t Voluntaryist