Thread: Death of HHS official Daniel Best is ruled a suicide | reduce prescription drug costs

Daniel Best, worked in Health And Human Services Dept to lower drug prices for Americans, death ruled a “suicide”, from “multiple blunt Force injuries”.
Best, former executive from CVSHealth and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals agreed to work at HHS to “Serve the American People”
Make your own conclusions folks.

Death of HHS official Daniel Best is ruled a suicide

Updated Nov 15; Posted Nov 15



Daniel Best, a pharmaceutical executive from Bay Village who was tapped to oversee government efforts to reduce prescription drug costs, died on Nov. 1. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

By Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com
seaton@cleveland.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Nov. 1 death of Daniel Best, a pharmaceutical executive from Bay Village who led U.S. Department of Health and Human Services efforts to lower prescription drug prices, has been ruled a suicide, officials in Washington, D.C., said Thursday.
Police say Best was found "unresponsive" near the garage door exit of an apartment building in Washington, D.C.'s Navy Yard neighborhood at 5:25 a.m. on Nov. 1, and was pronounced dead by medical personnel who responded to the scene.
The city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Thursday said Best died from "multiple blunt force injuries" and it ruled his death a suicide. It would not release further information.
In announcing his death, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the 49-year-old former CVSHealth and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals executive agreed to work at HHS "out of a desire to serve the American people by making health care more affordable."
"He brought his deep expertise and passion to this task with great humility and collegiality," Azar's statement said. "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."
Best is survived by his wife, Lisa, and three children.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/inde...ntNKgJ7RGnIpTc

He was shaking up the pharmaceutical industry as an advisor for drug pricing reform




U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar (R) on reducing drug costs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2018. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump’s Drug Pricing Czar Found With ‘Multiple Blunt Force Injuries,’ Ruled Suicide

By Petr Svab
November 18, 2018 Updated: November 19, 2018 Share

The high-level federal official tasked with lowering drug prices was found dead and, according to authorities in Washington, took his own life.

Daniel Best was the senior adviser to Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), for drug pricing reform.
Best was found “unresponsive” near the garage door exit of an apartment building in Navy Yard, a neighborhood about a mile south of the Capitol at 5:25 a.m. on Nov. 1, Cleveland.com reported, quoting the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department. Best was pronounced dead on the scene.
On Nov. 15, the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner declared the death a suicide, saying Best succumbed to “multiple blunt force injuries” without providing further details, according to Cleveland.com.
Best was a drug industry insider. He worked for more than a decade in various executive roles for the drugmaker Pfizer, Universal American, MemberHealth, and CVS Caremark Corporation.
His March appointment to HSS sparked criticism from some opponents of President Donald Trump, who accused the administration of cozying up to the drug industry. Azar is also a former pharma executive as well as lobbyist.
But Best’s experience could swing the other way, too.
Pharma ‘Shake Up’

Azar and Best will “know where the bodies are buried,” a health insurance lobbyist told Stat in May, though he added the two would also know how far they could go against the industry. “You can only shake up so much.”
Best apparently wanted to shake up quite a bit.
Two days before his death, HHS published a question-and-answer article where Best explained one of the initiatives he led was expected to save the government more than $50 billion in its first eight years on Medicare and Medicaid expenses—at the expense of drugmakers and/or other developed countries.
As Best explained, Americans often pay much higher prices than people in other developed countries for some expensive drugs. The plan was to attempt to level the playing field by tying how much Medicare pays for some drugs to a selection of international prices, instead of the average U.S. price.
Many European countries, for instance, exercise broad control over health care and dictate how much companies can charge for drugs. Conservative pundits have long complained over the oversized chunk of pharmaceutical research paid by Americans through higher drug prices.
“The world reaps the benefits of American genius and innovation, while American citizens—and especially our great seniors, who are hit the hardest—pick up the tab,” Trump said on Oct. 25 when announcing the plan.
Rebates

Other initiatives of Best included opening the market to generics and biosimilar drugs, and restructuring drug rebate programs that are blamed by some for driving up prices.
The rebates have been on his mind for years, Best’s brother Tim told GoErie.com.
“It was a concept he started on in 2005 to be able to take the rebates from the drug companies and give them back to the consumer,” Tim Best said. “I think that’s what he is really looking to do.”
Nice Guy

People who came into professional contact with Best described him as a congenial person and tough negotiator.
“He’s got a real nice personality,” said Chuck Spinelli, former team member of Best’s at MemberHealth. “He’s not a jerk, he’s not overbearing. He’s approachable, and pharma liked him. They appreciated working with him. He was very transparent. He was very honest. He didn’t play any games.”
Spinelli recalled a story of another of Best’s former coworkers who tried to get Best to include a new drug he was selling onto an insurance plan Best managed. But Best disregarded the longtime personal connection and refused the drug as it wasn’t a good fit for his customers.
Best grew up in the Erie, Pennsylvania, area and graduated from the University of Dayton. He leaves behind a wife and three sons.
“He brought his deep expertise and passion to this task with great humility and collegiality,” Azar said in a statement after news of Best’s death. “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 D.C. police, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Update: The article has been updated with a response from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Follow Petr on Twitter: @PetrSvab


https://www.theepochtimes.com/trumps...ReghaLkdBsru04

Conspiracy theory.

Sounds like he may have jumped to his death. That would explain the multiple blunt force injuries. Hard to really know anything for sure since we have zero insight into his personal family life or any other issues that could possibly have been bothering him. To assume he was shoved out a window or off a balcony is a reach considering there is zero evidence provided to substantiate such a claim.