OF ALL THOSE THAT SHOULD RUN THE HHS, IT IS NOT DR. TOM PRICE

…Georgia Rep, Dr. Tom Price, and the HHS Nominee

 

For Medicare, Obamacare and Planned Parenthood, Rep. Price and the average American couldn’t be further apart.

 

Today, all the noise is being made about the nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS), Rep. Tom Price from Georgia.  The noise is about his buying stock in health companies that would benefit from Price’s bills and his nomination.

 

Yes, that’s not a proper position for the Georgia Rep. to be in, but it’s the least of the problems that this country is going to have if Dr. Price is confirmed as the HSS Secretary.

 

Here’s just a thumbnail on what the good doctor Price would offer us as the HSS Secretary.

 

To start with, Dr. Price has tried to repeal the ACA five times w/o offering any replacement.

 

Price, a former orthopedic surgeon and six-term Tea Party House member from suburban Atlanta, has proposed policies that are more conservative than those of most House Republicans.

 

>>> Price supports privatizing Medicare so that seniors would only receive fixed dollar amounts to buy their insurance coverage.

 

>>> Price wants to limit federal Medicaid spending to give states a lump sum called "block grants", and more control over how they could spend it.  It’s a conservative Republican dream and a liberal nightmare for advocates for the poor who fear many would lose coverage. Trump has endorsed these block grants.

 

>>> For Medicare, the Affordable Care Act and Planned Parenthood, Congressman Price and the average American couldn’t be further apart. Between his nomination to serve as HHS secretary, it’s clear that Republicans are plotting a war on US seniors next year.

 

>>> Price is close to Speaker Ryan, who will lead congressional Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. The GOP is expected to roll back much of the health care law early on in Trump's presidency.  Once done, the Republicans could then set their sights on Medicaid and Medicare.  The plan is not to roll back five or 10 years of progress, but 50 years.  This is per Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group that supports Obamacare.

 

>>> Price's selection has raised concerns among women's rights groups, who pointed to Price’s past support for defunding Planned Parenthood and scaling back access to birth control. He’s also a strong opponent of abortion.  "Price could take women back decades," Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said.

 

>>> "Given Chairman Price’s past health proposals, I have grave concerns with what his policies would do to Americans,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which would have to approve Price's nomination.

 

>>> How much of that vision makes it into legislation likely depends on whether Republicans can first successfully, and quickly, come together on a broad Obamacare replacement package. Price's nomination positions him to play a key role in that process, and in shaping the GOP's ambitious vision for killing US health care.

 

A new analysis says that at least 18 million people could lose health insurance in the first year if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act without replacing it.  This intensified the battle this week over the landmark health-care law as President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans try to figure out how to dismantle it.

 

Price’s vision for health reform hinges on his role in favor of a free-market framework built on "program privatization", state flexibility and changes to the tax code. The vast majority of the 20 million people now covered under Obamacare would have far less robust coverage, if they get any coverage at all.

 

“Young, healthy and wealthy people may do quite well under this conservative vision of health care reform,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “But the people who are older and poorer and really need the coverage could do a lot worse.”

 

Ezekiel Emanuel, who served as a top White House health-care adviser during Obama’s tenure and has met with Trump as well as his aides, said in an interview Tuesday that the president-elect is sincere about the idea of “repeal and replace” when it comes to the ACA, rather than just “repeal and delay.”

 

“He does want to get to universal coverage,’” said Emanuel, who leads the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. “He wants something he can be proud of.”

 

Drew Altman, president and chief executive of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, said it is “technically very difficult to come up with a plan that achieves Republican goals” of lowering the cost of insurance premiums without generous federal subsidies “and also the goals of the ACA,” which expand what kind of services are covered.

 

As Trump works to deliver on his promises, this week it is Tom Price, the 62-year old congressman from the affluent northern Atlanta suburbs, who will serve as the face of the incoming administration.  And there is little that Price believes that agree with the things that Trump has said he believes.  Trump has said that he does not have a conservative ideology, while Price is a strong Tea Party member and supporter.  You can’t have two more different individuals than that.

 

The former orthopedic surgeon has staked out controversial positions on Medicare, Medicaid and tax breaks for employer-sponsored health plans. In his most recent health-care bill, Price proposed eliminating the Medicaid expansion that has provided new coverage to roughly 10 million Americans.  He also wants to abolishing provisions under the law that provided more comprehensive prescription drug coverage to Medicare recipients.  When asked by Bernie Sanders if he would agree that Medicare should be able to negotiate prescription drug prices with big pharma.  All Price would say is that he agrees that Americans should pay reasonable prices for their prescriptions.  Sanders then rightly said, “If that’s all you can say you would agree to, then I can’t vote for you!”

 

The reality is that for those people currently on Obamacare, with Price at the helm, it might be a better deal to figure out how you could legally move to Canada.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017