The Independent Payment Advisory Board was supposed to make it easier for Congress to control Medicare spending. But Congress never loved it. Now it's gone.
Mr. Azar, a former drug company executive, immediately confronts two huge challenges: how to rein in drug prices and how to administer the Affordable Care Act.
The Trump administration has unveiled a Medicare program that closely resembles the Obama-era efforts to change the way doctors and hospitals are paid.
Lawmakers are pushing for billions in new funding for biomedical research, but sparring over health insurance and almost everything else related to the Affordable Care Act.
Efforts by Republicans to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, culminating in the repeal of the individual mandate, have left behind a more government-focused health program.