Tom Price pressed on Obamacare repeal in health secretary hearing
Tom Price, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, was pressed to explain how Republicans would repeal and replace Obamacare while simultaneously keeping the president-elect’s promise of “insurance for all.”
Over the four-hour hearing, the Georgia congressman was grilled by Senate Democrats about Trump’s health care promises, as well as stocks Price traded in medical companies, which they argued represented conflicts of interest.
“I think there’s been a lot of talk about individuals losing health care coverage — that is not our goal, nor is it our desire, nor it is our plan,” Price said. He said he wanted to “lower the temperature” of the debate and reassure Americans that Republicans would not pull the “rug” out from under people with an immediate repeal.
But Price was not specific about what the Republican’s replace plan would entail, saying only that his goal was to cover as many or more people than the Affordable Care Act while providing more choices to patients and control to states.
He said this would not be done in one comprehensive bill replacing the Affordable Care Act, but rather in a piecemeal way. “The last thing we want to do is go from a Democrat health care system to a Republican health care system,” Price said.
When pressed by Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, Price would not commit to a March 1 deadline for starting the repeal and replace plan. Alexander said he hoped the government would continue to provide subsidies for those in the Obamacare exchange while building a better approach for them.
Trump upended the previous Republican plan to repeal Obamacare and then delay its implementation for several years while they came up with a plan when he said earlier this month that lawmakers should repeal and replace “simultaneously.” Trump’s departure from the party line on health care often put his nominee in a tough spot during the hearing, as he was asked to commit to the president-elect’s more liberal promises.
Sen. Bernie Sanders asked Price if Trump still stood by his campaign vow to not cut Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. “I have no reason to believe that’s changed,” Price said of Trump’s views.
But when pressed by Democratic senators, Price would not commit to that promise himself. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts asked him repeatedly whether he would promise not to cut Medicaid or Medicare. Price said he believed money should not be the metric going forward. Instead, he wanted to focus on the quality of care and how many people are insured.
“You might want to print out the president-elect’s statement [vowing not to cut Medicare and Medicaid] and post that above your desk in your new office,” Warren shot back.
Warren also asked Price to answer whether he proposed to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid. “You have the numbers before you,” Price said.
Price dodged several questions about whether he agreed with Trump that the government should negotiate with pharmaceutical companies directly to lower their prices. He said only he agreed that drug prices should be “reasonable.”
Sanders also pushed Price on his statement that he believes every American should have “access” to quality health care.
“I have access to buying a $10 million house, but I don’t have the money to do that,” Sanders said.
Price then clarified that he wanted health care to be financially feasible for Americans.
Democrats also aggressively questioned Price on his investments in medical companies while legislating on issues that affected those companies. Price said the stock trades were made by his broker, not him, and that he was transparent in reporting them.
But he did admit to personally directing his broker to buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of stock in the Australian pharmaceutical company Innate Immunotherapeutics, which he said Rep. Chris Collins of New York had told him about. “I studied the company for a period of time and felt it had significant merit and promise,” Price said. He said he knew he was being offered the stock as part of a small group of people, though he said he was not aware the price was lower than the price offered to regular investors.
“It really begs credulity, sir, when you say you did not know you got a discount on this,” said Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota. “This was a private offering to a very small number of people. … This sounds like sweetheart deal.”
Price said he was offended that his colleagues were questioning his motives. “Everything we have done has been above board, transparent, ethical and legal,” Price said.
Republicans grumbled about the tone of the hearing. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas joked it was like an “anger management meeting” for his Democratic colleagues. Alexander said it was too “testy” and that Republicans and Democrats were behaving like the “Hatfields and McCoys of West Virginia.”
“We’ve forgotten who killed who in the first place, and we’re not absolutely clear what we’re fighting about,” Alexander said.
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