Secretary Azar Statement on Medicare Trustees Report HHS Secretary Alex Azar released the following statement on the release of the annual Medicare Trustees Report: “Today’s seniors and future generations need certainty that Medicare will be there to support them now and in the future. This year’s Trustees Report provides a sobering reminder that we have much work to do to make good on that goal. Instead of trying to expand Medicare into a universal entitlement that even covers wealthy Americans of working age, as some have proposed, we need to fulfill Medicare’s promise to our seniors. President Trump’s 2020 budget proposes reforms that will extend the life of the Medicare hospital insurance trust fund by eight years through lowering prescription drug prices and paying for value. These proposals complement the work we are doing administratively at HHS to lower costs in Medicare for American patients and transform our healthcare system into one that treats you like a person, not a number.” ###