HHS Secretary Tom Price met with patient and disease advocacy groups at HHS today in the first of a series of meetings on drug prices, according to people who attended the session.

Price is expected to meet with additional groups focused on drug prices, according to a source close to the administration who said HHS is working on a plan to address drug costs. He is soon expected to hold a meeting with PhRMA on patient assistance programs that help consumers afford medicines not fully covered by their insurer.

Groups attending the Monday meeting included the National Health Council, whose CEO, Marc Boutin, presented the group’s recently released proposals on how to reduce health care costs. Other groups in attendance included Friends of Cancer Research, the Multiple Sclerosis Coalition, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, JDRF, the American Diabetes Association and the Alzheimer’s Association.

One lobbyist focused on drug pricing told POLITICO that some members and supporters of the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing have also been contacted to meet with Price. The lobbyist said she believed HHS was trying to reach out to “the whole gamut” of viewpoints on drug pricing.

HHS and PhRMA did not respond to requests for comment.

A new Kaiser Health Tracking Poll out today found broad, bipartisan support for a number of measures to drive down drug prices long opposed by the drug industry. Most notably, 92 percent of respondents favored changing the law to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

https://www.politicopro.com/health-care/whiteboard/2017/05/price-starts…