"Trump’s pick for HHS Secretary suggests he’s very serious about dismantling Obamacare
NOVEMBER 29, 2016 BY LARRY O'CONNOR
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) has been the tip of the Congressional spear in the battle against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) for the past six years.
Today, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services, the agency that over-sees and administers Obamacare. (WaPo)
As HHS secretary, Price would be the incoming administration’s point person for dismantling the sprawling 2010 health-care law, which candidate Trump promised to start dismantling on his first day in the Oval Office. The 62-year-old lawmaker, who represents a wealthy suburban Atlanta district, has played a leading role in the Republican opposition to the law and has helped draft several comprehensive bills to replace it. The GOP-led House has voted five dozen times to eliminate all or part of the ACA but has never had a chance of accomplishing its goal as long as President Obama has been in the White House.
As many Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, wavered in their attitudes towards Trump during his campaign, Price was a devoted foot soldier. In May, he organized a joint statement by nine GOP House committee chairs, pledging loyalty to Trump and calling on “all Americans to support him.”
Price has been far from “all talk and no substance” when it comes to calling to repeal Obamacare. In fact, as Chairman of the Budget Committee Price has proposed various “Repeal and Replace” bills that have stalled with President Obama’s veto pen looming at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
In fact, as recently as May 2015 Price put for the “Empowering Patients First Act” which would have provided more free-market solutions to the skyrocketing costs of health insurance, and health care.
“Under Obamacare, the American people are paying more for health care and getting less – less access, less quality, and fewer choices. The status quo and its defenders are empowering Washington and harming patients and doctors. With real, patient-centered reforms we can build a more innovative and responsive health care system – one that empowers patients and ensures they and their doctor have the freedom to make health care decisions without bureaucratic interference or influence.
“The Empowering Patients First Act puts patients, families and doctors in charge by focusing on the principles of affordability, accessibility, quality, innovation, choices and responsiveness. Those principles form the foundation of the solutions in H.R. 2300 – solutions including individual health pools and expanded health savings accounts, tax credits for the purchase of coverage and lawsuit abuse reforms to reduce the costly practice of defensive medicine. The solutions in the Empowering Patients First Act will get Washington out of the way while protecting and strengthening the doctor-patient relationship.”
Price is also a medical doctor so he is able to take a lofty, moral high ground and speak on behalf of the doctors as well as the patients who have to suffer under the government constraints imposed on the medical profession.
Last month Price joined two of his colleagues in the House (also doctors) and penned a critique of the Affordable Care Act for Fox News. Price, along with Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) provided a scathing analysis of the broken promises President Obama delivered when selling Obamacare to the American people:
In his 2008 campaign for president, then-candidate Sen. Barack Obama repeatedly promised to cut annual health insurance premiums by $2,500. When he took office in 2009, annual family premiums for employer-provided coverage, the most common of private insurance coverage, cost $13,375 according to Kaiser. In 2016, those premiums are $18,142. That’s an increase of $4,767.
As President Obama worries about his legacy in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump, he should recognize that the fractured health care scheme that bears his name is probably facing a very real existential threat now that an actual doctor is on call."
joshuaf's Link
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/heres-how-trumps-hhs-pick-wants-to-replace-obamacare/article/2608349
joshuaf's Link
Also known as Mitch McConnell's wife.
Man, that Donald Trump sure is living up to his reputation as an anti-Establishment hero!
Comment on the pick, not on who the pick's spouse is.
How is being McConnell's wife NOT relevant to the point? For a non-establishment guy these are political establishment picks. Could be very competent people, I personally have no real problems with many of them. Josh didn't voice an actual objection to her either. But claims of being non-establishment ring pretty hollow. Some very nasty things said here about McConnell from Trump supporters here. How do they reconcile this???
Two ways:
1. Chou's record as Sec. Labor.
2. But for McConnell's steadfast position for blocking even a hearing on the nomination of Merrick Garland, he might now be a Supreme Court Justice.
While I do not agree with much of what McConnell has done as Majority Leader, he has done many things conservatives should like. Just because a politician does not do everything you want is no reason to crap on him for everything he does.
We see that here on the CF almost daily. "This guy or gal didn't do EVERYTHING I want, therefore he/she's a piece of garbage."
Just ask joshuaf
You also aren't a Trumpist who wanted him to burn down the GOP from day one and loved him in large part because you thought he was "anti-Establishment". Some of the Trumpists here would likely love to see nothing more than Paul Ryan and Mitch burned in effigy.
You totally avoided responding to my post.
Yet again.
Donald trump today.." burn the American flag and you should go to jail for 1 yr. and or lose your citizenship". Hard line no doubt but when was the last time you haerd ANYONE speak up for the flag. Trump continues to impress all except the malcontents on the left and this site.
Trump continues to turn "right" just as many here have predicted being the Democrat that he always was. I honestly believe this man has something to prove to a country that was woefully lacking in self respect the past 8 years.
The Rock
