WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s top health official asked Congress on Friday to pass its new prescription drug discount plan and provide it to all patients, not just those covered by government programs like Medicare.

The plan would take now-hidden rebates among industry players like drug companies and insurers and channel them directly to consumers when they pay for medications.

Patients with high drug copays stand to benefit from the proposal, while people who take no prescription drugs, or who rely on generics mainly, would probably pay somewhat more, since premiums are expected to rise.

A day after unveiling the plan as a proposed regulation, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar raised the stakes by calling on Congress to make it law and broaden it to include people covered by employer health insurance, not just Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

“Congress has an opportunity to follow through on their calls for transparency by passing our proposal into law immediately and extending it into the commercial drug market,” Azar said in a speech.

Ahead of Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, President Donald Trump is under political pressure to show results for his promise to slash prescription drug costs. Data show that prices for brand-name drugs have continued to rise, though at a somewhat slower pace. Polls show consumers across the political spectrum want government action.

Democrats say the administration’s plan doesn’t go far enough because it still leaves drug companies free to set high list prices. They say it’s impossible to tell if drug prices reflect actual costs or if companies are charging what they think the market will bear.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she’s also worried that the plan would raise premiums. HHS acknowledges Medicare prescription premiums would go up $3 to $5 a month.

The complex plan would work by doing away with an exemption from federal anti-kickback rules that currently allows drugmakers, insurers and middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers to negotiate rebates among themselves.

Drug companies pay rebates to make sure their medications are covered by insurance plans that are the intermediaries between them and patients. HHS says hidden rebates can amount to up to 30 percent of a drug’s list price. Insurers say they use the money from rebates to hold down premiums for all consumers.

Under the plan, the current anti-kickback exemption for industry rebates would be replaced with a new one for discounts offered directly to consumers.

Azar said the idea would reshape the drug pricing system, shifting it away from hidden rebates to upfront discounts, creating pressure on drugmakers to keep prices down. The proposal was co-authored with the HHS inspector general’s office.

Experts say it will take time to sort out all the potential consequences.

Peter Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said the current system of rebates harms patients who take costly drugs with high copays.

Think people with cancer, patients with intractable illnesses, and those who take brand-name medicines with no generic competition.

Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers like Express Scripts and CVS oppose the administration plan, saying it will undercut their ability to bargain for lower prices, while drugmakers have applauded the administration’s action.