Confirmation Hearings - Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Price

[tanaqui]

Nomination of Tom Price to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services

When: Wednesday 18 January from 10:00am

Committee Members: (as at 13 Jan) Chairman: Senator Lamar Alexander (TN), Senator Michael B. Enzi (R - WY), Senator Richard Burr (R - NC), Senator Johnny Isakson (R - GA), Senator Rand Paul (R - KY), Senator Susan M. Collins (R - ME), Senator Bill Cassidy (R - LA), Senator Todd Young (R - IN), Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R- UT), Senator Pat Roberts (R - KS), Senator Lisa Murkowski (R - AK), Senator Tim Scott (R - SC), Ranking Member: Senator Patty Murray (D - WA), Senator Bernard Sanders (D - VT), Senator Robert P. Casey (D - PA), Senator Al Franken (D - MN), Senator Michael F. Bennet (D - CO), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D - RI), Senator Tammy Baldwin (D - WI), Senator Christopher Murphy (D - CT), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - MA), Senator Tim Kaine (D - VA), Senator Margaret Wood Hassan (D - NH)

What the committee should be concerned about: Tom Price is a six-term Republican congressman from Georgia, an orthopaedic surgeon, an outspoken opponent of abortion and a member of the Tea Party Caucus. He is also against same-sex marriage, describing the Supreme Court ruling last year that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage as “not only a sad day for marriage, but a further judicial destruction of our entire system of checks and balances.”

Mr Price is a leading critic of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has introduced bills offering a detailed, comprehensive replacement plan in every Congress since 2009. Many of his ideas have been adopted by the Republicans in their "Better Way" agenda issued last year.

The legislation he has proposed,the Empowering Patients First Act, would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and instead offered tax credits for people to buy insurance and encouraged Americans to open health savings accounts. It does not include Medicaid expansion, which has been adopted by 32 states under the ACA, or an alternative, and Price has explicitly said he is in favor of rolling back Medicaid expansion.

More recently, Price has advocated a radical change to how Medicaid itself is funded: instead of the federal government paying 57 cents of every state dollar spent on Medicaid, Price suggested the government issue block grants state that officials could determine how best to use. States would be responsible for any costs beyond the federal allotment, even if they incur unexpected costs from an economic downturn or population growth.

According to Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, Price's plan would cover far fewer people than the ACA and allow insurance companies to move to states with fewer regulations with the result that sicker patients would be forced to pay exorbitant premiums for their coverage.

Mr. Price has also introduced legislation that would make it easier for doctors to defend themselves against medical malpractice lawsuits and, in effect, opt out of Medicare and charge more than the amounts normally allowed by the program’s rules. He has also supported legislation to bar federal funds for Planned Parenthood on numerous occasions, which would see millions of women cut off from preventative health services and access to free birth control, as well as limiting the availability of abortion services.

Suggested script for calling representatives:Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Tom Price as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mr Price has a track record of introducing and supporting legislation that would remove health coverage from millions of Americans, increase costs for those with pre-existing or chronic conditions to exorbitant levels, and cut off millions of women from preventative health services. Mr Price's disregard for the health needs of more than half of all Americans makes him unsuited to leading a department whose policies affect all Americans and he should therefore not be our next Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.

Housekeeping note: This is the last of the confirmation hearings currently scheduled for Wednesday 18 January. I'll be back tomorrow with a post on the only hearing scheduled for Thursday 19 January.

Comments

[j00j]

Insider trading is a good additional reason! http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/16/politics/tom-price-bill-aiding-company/index.html

Here's the amendment I used, though I'm not sure it's the most concise
Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Tom Price as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mr Price has a track record of introducing and supporting legislation that would remove health coverage from millions of Americans, increase costs for those with pre-existing or chronic conditions to exorbitant levels, and cut off millions of women from preventative health services. Furthermore, Price has a history of trading stock in healthcare firms while pursuing legislation that could impact their share price-- this is insider trading and not up to the ethical standard we should hold congressmen, let alone cabinet members. Mr Price's disregard for the health needs of more than half of all Americans and unethical practices makes him unsuited to leading a department whose policies affect all Americans and he should therefore not be our next Secretary of Health and Human Services.

[tanaqui]

Thanks for posting about this. Another way in which he's a despicable person.

And yes, so many of these nominees have so many different issues -- any one of which on its own would make them a bad choice -- that it's often hard to distil it down to a short calling script!