Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, had to fend off several sharp questions from US House Energy and Commerce Committee members at a budget hearing March 12. Some queries came from Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., who asked about the department’s “sabotage of the Affordable Care Act by cuts to health care-safety-net Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
Also, Health Subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., asked why Azar had thrown his support behind so-called insurance “junk plans” promoted by the Trump administration that would cut essential benefits for...