Feb 26, 2017
Former Congressman Tom Price is our new Secretary of Health and
Human Services, making him the chief law enforcement officer of
health care policy in the United States. In this episode, hear
highlights from his Senate confirmation hearings as we search for
clues as to the Republican Party plans for repealing the Affordable
Care Act. We also examine the 21st Century Cures Act, which was
signed into law in December.
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Bill Outline
Bill Highlights
Title I: Innovation Projects & State Response to Opioid
Abuse
-
Authorizes funding for research programs, if money is
appropriated
-
Authorizes $1 billion for grants for States to deal with the
opioid abuse crisis
- The effects of this spending on the Pay as you Go budget
will not be counted
Title II: Discovery
-
Creates privacy protections for people who participate as
subjects in medical research studies
-
Orders the Secretary of Health and Human Services to a do a
review of reporting regulations for researchers in search of
regulations to cut, including regulations on reporting financial
conflicts of interest and research animal care.
-
Allows contractors to collect payments on behalf of the
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Title III: Development
-
Gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services additional
data options for approving drug applications
-
Expedites the review process for new "regenerative advanced
therapy" drugs, which includes drugs "intended to treat, modify,
reverse or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition"
or is a therapy that involves human cells.
-
Allows antibacterial and antifungal drugs to be approved after
only being tested on a "limited population"
- The drugs will have have a "Limited Population" label
-
Speeds up the FDA approval process for new medical devices that
help with life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating conditions
and that have no existing alternatives.
- Devices addressing rare diseases or conditions are allowed be
approved with lower standards for effectiveness; this provision
expands the definition of "rare" by
doubling the number of people affected from 4,000 to
8,000.
- Each FDA employee involved in drug approvals will get training
for how to make their reviews
least burdensome.
Title IV: Delivery
Title V: Savings
Title VII: Ensuring Mental and Substance Use Disorders
Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Programs Keep Pace With
Technology
- Authorizes money to be used for mental health services and
substance abuse treatment
Title IX: Promoting Access to Mental Health and Substance Use
Disorder Care
-
Creates a telephone and online service to help people locate
mental health services and substance abuse treatment centers.
Title XIV: Mental health and safe communities
-
Creates a pilot program to test the idea of having court cases
with mentally ill defendants heard in "drug or mental health
courts"
Title XVII: Other Medicare Provisions
Additional Reading
- Article: Trump's
HHS Nominee Got A Sweetheart Deal From A Foreign Biotech Firm
by Jay Hancock and Rachel Bluth, Kaiser Health News, February 13,
2017.
- Article:
Tom Price belongs to a doctors group with unorthodox views on
government and health care by Amy Goldstein, The Washington
Post, February 9, 2017.
- Article:
New stock questions plague HHS nominee Tom Price as confirmation
vote nears by Jayne O'Donnell, USA Today, February 8,
2017.
- Article:
HHS Pick Price Made 'Brazen' Stock Trades While His Committee Was
Under Scrutiny by Marisa Taylor and Christina Jewett, Kaiser
Health News, February 7, 2017.
- Article:
Tom Price, Dr. Personal Enrichment by David Leonhardt, The New
York Times, February 7, 2017.
- Article: Donald
Trump's Cabinet Pick Invested in 6 Drug Companies Before Medicare
Fight by Sam Frizell, TIME, January 17, 2017.
- Article:
First on CNN: Trump's Cabinet pick invested in company, then
introduced a bill to help it by Manu Raju, CNN, January 17,
2017.
- Publication: How Repealing Portions of
the Affordable Care Act Would Affect Health Insurance Coverage and
Premiums, Congressional Budget Office, January 17, 2017.
- Article:
Under 21st Century Cures legislation, stem cell advocates expect
regulatory shortcuts by Kelly Servick, Science, December 12,
2016.
- Article:
Highlights of Medical Device Related Provision in the 21st Century
Cures Act by Jeffrey K. Shapiro and Jennifer D. Newberger, FDA
Law Blog, December 8, 2016.
- Article: Republicans
reach deal to pass Cures Act by end of year, but Democrats pushing
for changes by Sheila Kaplan, STAT, November 27, 2016.
- Article:
Introduction to Budget "Reconciliation" by David Reich and
Richard Kogan, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, November 9,
2016.
- Article:
PhRMA companies push hard on House bill to ease testing of new
drugs by Alex Lazar, OpenSecrets.org, June 16, 2015.
References
Sound Clip Sources
Hearing: Health and Human Services Secretary Confirmation,
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, January 18,
2017 (Part 1) and January 24, 2017 (Part 2).
Timestamps & Transcripts Part 1
- 47:45 Senator Patty Murray: I want to
review the facts. You purchased stock in Innate Immunotherapeutics,
a company working to develop new drugs, on four separate occasions
between January 2015 and August 2016. You made the decision to
purchase that stock, not a broker. Yes or no. Tom
Price: That was a decision that I made, yes.
Murray: You were offered an opportunity to
purchase stock at a lower price than was available to the general
public. Yes or no. Price: The initial purchase in
January of 2015 was at the market price. The secondary purchase in
June through August, September of 2016 was at a price that was
available to individuals who were participating in a
private-placement offering. Murray:It was lower
than was available to the general public, correct?
Price: I don’t know that it was. It was the same
price that everybody paid for the private-placement offering.
Murray: Well, Congressman Chris Collins, who sits
on President-elect Trump’s transition team, is both an investor and
a board member of the company. He was reportedly overheard just
last week off the House floor, bragging about how he had made
people millionaires from a stock tip. Congressman Price, in our
meeting, you informed me that you made these purchases based on
conversations with Representative Collins. Is that correct?
Price: No. What I— Murray: Well,
that is what you said to me in my office. Price:
What I believe I said to you was that I learned of the company from
Congressman Collins. Murray: What I recall our
conversation was that you had a conversation with Collins and then
decided to purchase the stock. Price: No, that’s
not correct. Murray: Well, that is what I remember
you hearing it—say—in my office. In that conversation, did
Representative Collins tell you anything that could be considered
“a stock tip?” Yes or no. Price: I don’t believe
so, no. Murray: Well, if you’re telling me he gave
you information about a company, you were offered shares in the
company at prices not available to the public, you bought those
shares, is that not a stock tip? Price: Well,
that’s not what happened. What happened was that he mentioned—he
talked about the company and the work that they were doing in
trying to solve the challenge of progressive secondary multiple
sclerosis which is a very debilitating disease and one that I—
Murray: I’m well aware of that, but—
Price: —had the opportunity to treat patients when
I was in practice. Murray: I’m aware—
Price: I studied the company for a period of time
and felt that it had some significant merit and promise, and
purchased the initial shares on the stock exchange itself.
Murray: Congressman Price, I have very limited
time. Let me go on. Your purchases occurred while the 21st Century
Cures Act, which had several provisions that could impact drug
developers like Innate Immunotherapeutics, was being negotiated,
and, again, just days before you were notified to prepare for a
final vote on the bill. Congressman, do you believe it is
appropriate for a senior member of Congress actively involved in
policymaking in the health sector to repeatedly personally invest
in a drug company that could benefit from those actions? Yes or no.
Price: Well, that's not what happened.
- 1:06:50 Senator Bernie Sanders: The
United States of America is the only major country on earth that
does not guarantee healthcare to all people as a right. Canada does
it; every major country in Europe does it. Do you believe that
healthcare is a right of all Americans, whether they’re rich or
they’re poor? Should people, because they are Americans, be able to
go to the doctor when they need to, be able to go into a hospital,
because they are Americans? Tom Price: Yes. We’re
a compassionate society— Sanders: No, we are not a
compassionate society. In terms of our relationship to poor and
working people, our record is worse than virtually any other
country on earth; we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of
any other major country on earth; and half of our senior, older
workers have nothing set aside for retirement. So I don’t think,
compared to other countries, we are particularly compassionate. But
my question is, in Canada, in other countries, all people have the
right to get healthcare, do you believe we should move in that
direction? Price: If you want to talk about other
countries’ healthcare systems, there are consequences to the
decisions that they’ve made just as there are consequences to the
decision that we’ve made. I believe, and I look forward to working
with you to make certain, that every single American has access to
the highest-quality care and coverage that is possible.
Sanders: “Has access to” does not mean that they
are guaranteed healthcare. I have access to buying a
ten-million-dollar home; I don’t have the money to do that.
Price: And that’s why we believe it’s appropriate
to put in place a system that gives every person the financial
feasibility to be able to purchase the coverage that they want for
themselves and for their family, again, not what the government
forces them to buy. Sanders: Yeah, but if they
don’t have any—well, it’s a long dissert. Thank you very much.
Price: Thank you.
- 1:46:34 Senator Michael Bennet: So, I
ask you, sir, are you aware that behind closed doors Republican
leadership wrote into this bill that any replacement to the
Affordable Care Act would be exempt from Senate rules that prohibit
large increases to the deficit? Tom Price: As you
may know, Senator, I stepped aside as chairman of the budget
committee at the beginning of this year, and so I wasn’t involved
in the writing of— Bennet: You have been the
budget committee chairman during the rise of the Tea Party; you are
a member of the Tea Party Caucus; you have said over and over
again, as other people have, that the reason you’ve come to
Washington is to reduce our deficit and reduce our debt. I assume
you’re very well aware of the vehicle that is being used to repeal
the Affordable Care Act. This is not— Price: Yes.
Bennet: —some small piece of legislation. This is
the Republican budget. Price: Yes, I'm aware of
the bill. Yes. Bennet: But do you support a budget
that increases the debt by $10 trillion? Price:
No. What I support is an opportunity to use reconciliation to
address the real challenges in the Affordable Care Act and to make
certain that we put in place at the same time a provision that
allows us to move the healthcare system in a much better direction—
Bennet: Do you support the budget that was passed
by the Senate Republicans— Price: I support—
Bennet:—to repeal the Affordable Care Act that
adds $10 trillion of debt to the budget deficit?
Price: Well, the reconciliation bill is yet to
come. I support the process that allows for and provides for the
fiscal year ’17 reconciliation bill to come forward.
- 2:38:37 Senator Chris Murphy: But do
you direct your broker around ethical guidelines? Do you tell him,
for instance, not to invest in companies that are directly
connected to your advocacy? Because it seems like a great deal: as
a broker, he can just sit back, take a look— Tom
Price: She. Murphy: —at the positions
that you’re taking— Price: She. She can sit back.
Murphy: She can—she can sit back—
Price: Yeah. Murphy: —in this
case—look at the legislative positions you’re taking, and invest in
companies that she thinks are going to increase in value based on
your legislative activities, and you can claim separation from that
because you didn’t have a conversation.
Price:Well, that’s a nefarious arrangement that
I’m really astounded by. The fact of the matter is that I have had
no conversations with my broker about any political activity at
all, other than her— Murphy: Then why wouldn’t you
tell her— Price: —other than her congratulating—
Murphy: Why— Price: —me on my
election. Murphy: But why wouldn’t you at least
tell her, “Hey, listen; stay clear of any companies that are
directly affected by my legislative work”? Price:
Because the agreement that we have is that she provide a
diversified portfolio, which is exactly what virtually every one of
you have in your investment opportunities, and make certain that in
order to protect one’s assets that there’s a diversified
arrangement for purchase of stocks. I knew nothing about—
Murphy: But you couldn’t have—
Price: —those purchases. Murphy:
But you couldn’t have a diversified portfolio while staying clear
of the six companies that were directly affected by your work on an
issue? Price: Well, as I said, I didn’t have any
knowledge of those purchases. Murphy: Okay.
- 2:54:20 Senator Elizabeth Warren: One
of the companies—it’s the company raised by Mr. Franken, Senator
Franken—and that is Zimmer Biomet. They’re one of the world’s
leading manufacturers of hip and knees, and they make more money if
they can charge higher prices and sell more of their products. The
company knows this, and so do the stock analysts. So on March 17,
2016 you purchased stock in Zimmer Biomet. Exactly six days after
you bought the stock, on March 23, 2016, you introduced a bill in
the House called the Hip Act that would require HHS secretary to
suspend regulations affecting the payment for hip and knee
replacements. Is that correct? Tom Price: I think
the BPCI program to which I think you referred I’m a strong
supporter of because it keeps the decision making in the—
Warren: I’m not asking you about why you support
it. I’m just asking, did you buy the stock, and then did you
introduce a bill that would be helpful to the companies you just
bought stock in? Price: The stock was bought by a
direct—by a broker who was making those decisions. I wasn’t making
those decisions. Warren: Okay, so you said you
weren’t making those decisions. Let me just make sure that I
understand. These are your stock trades, though. They are listed
under your name, right? Price: They’re made on my
behalf, yes. Warren:Okay. Was the stock purchased
through an index fund? Price: I don't believe so.
Warren: Through a passively managed mutual fund?
Price: No. It’s a broker— Warren:
Through an actively managed mutual fund? Price:
It’s a broker-directed account. Warren: Through a
blind trust? So, let’s just be clear. This is not just a
stockbroker, someone you pay to handle the paperwork. This is
someone who buys stock at your direction. This is someone who buys
and sells the stock you want them to buy and sell.
Price: Not true. Warren: So when
you found out that— Price: That’s not true,
Senator. Warren: Well, because you decide not to
tell them—wink, wink, nod, nod—and we’re all just supposed to
believe that? Price: It’s what members of this
committee, it’s the manner of which— Warren: Well,
I’m not one of them. Price: —members of this
committee—Well, I understand that— Warren: So, let
me just keep asking about this. Price: —but it’s
important to appreciate that that’s the case.
Warren:Then, I want to understand. When you found
out that your broker had made this trade without your knowledge,
did you reprimand her? Price: What—what I did was
comply— Warren: Well, you found out that she made
it. Price: What I did was comply—
Warren: Did you fire her? Did you sell the stock?
Price: What I did was comply with the rules of the
House in an ethical and legal and— Warren: I
didn’t ask whether or not the rules of the House—
Price: —above-board manner—
Warren: —let you do this. Price:
—and in a transparent way. Warren: You know, all
right. So, your periodic transaction report notes that you were
notified of this trade on April 4, 2016. Did you take additional
actions after that date to advance[audio cuts out] the company that
you now own stock in? Price: I’m offended by the
insinuation, Senator. Warren: Well, let me just
read what you did. You may be offended, but here’s what you did.
Congressional records show that after you were personally notified
of this trade, which you said you didn’t know about in advance,
that you added 23 out of your bill’s 24 co-sponsors; that also
after you were notified of this stock transaction, you sent a
letter to CMS, calling on them to cease all current and future
planned mandatory initiatives under the Center for Medicare and
Medicaid Innovation; and just so there was no misunderstanding
about who you were trying to help, you specifically mentioned—
Unknown Speaker: Your two minutes are up, Senator
Warren. Thank you. Warren: —hip and knee
replacement.
- 2:58:20 Senator Johnny Isakson: This
is very important for us to all understand under the disclosure
rules that we have and the way it operates, any of us could make
the mistakes that are being alleged. I’m sure Senator Franken had
no idea that he owned part of Philip Morris when he made the
statement he made about tobacco companies, but he has a WisdomTree
Equity Income Fund investment, as disclosed in his disclosure,
which owns Philip Morris. So, it’s entirely possible for any of us
to have somebody make an investment on our behalf and us not know
where that money is invested because of the very way it works. I
don’t say that to, in any way, embarrass Mr. Franken but to make a
point that any one of us who have mutual funds or investment
managers or people who do that, it’s entirely possible for us not
to know, and to try and imply that somebody’s being obfuscating
something or in otherwise denying something that’s a fact, it’s
just not the fair thing to do, and I just wanted to make that
point. Senator Al Franken: This is different than
mutual funds. Isakson: It’s an investment in
Philip Morris. Unknown Speaker: Alright.
Unknown Speaker: Thank you.
Warren: And my question was about what do you do
after he had notice. Unknown Speaker: Senator
Warren, your time has been generously… Senator Kaine.
- 3:21:09 Senator Tim Kaine: Do you
agree with the president-elect that the replacement for the
Affordable Care Act must ensure that there is insurance for
everybody? Tom Price: I have stated it here and—
Kaine: Right. Price: —always that
it’s incredibly important that we have a system that allows for
every single American to have access to the kind of coverage that
they need and desire. Kaine: And he’s—
- 3:31:52 Senator Patty Murray: You
admitted to me in our meeting that you, in your own words, talked
with Congressman Collins about Innate Immuno. This inspired you to
you, in your own words, study the company and then purchase its
stock, and you did so without a broker. Yes or no. Tom
Price: No. Murray: Without a broker.
Price: I did not. Murray: You
told me that you did this one on your own without the broker. Yes?
Price: No, I did it through a broker. I directed
the broker to purchase the stock, but I did it through a broker.
Murray: You directed the broker to purchase
particularly that stock. Price: That's correct.
Murray: Yeah.
- 3:34:42 Senator Patty Murray: Will
you commit to ensuring all 18 FDA-approved methods of contraception
continue to be covered so that women do not have to go back to
paying extra costs for birth control? Tom Price:
What I will commit to and assure is that women and all Americans
need to know that we believe strongly that every single American
ought to have access to the kind of coverage and care that they
desire and want.
- 3:36:38 Senator Patty Murray: The
Office of Minority Health was reauthorized as part of the ACA. So
will you commit to maintaining and supporting this office and its
work? Tom Price: I will commit to be certain that
minorities in this country are treated in a way that makes
certain—makes absolutely certain—that they have access to the
highest-quality care. Murray: So you will not
commit to the Office of Minority Health being maintained.
Price: I think it’s important that we think about
the patient at the center of all this. Our commitment, my
commitment, to you is to make certain that minority patients and
all patients in this country have access to the highest-quality
care. Murray: But in particular—so you won’t
commit to the Office of Minority— Price: We—Look,
there are different ways to handle things. I can’t commit to you to
do something in a department that one, I’m not in—I haven’t gotten
it yet— Murray: But you will be.
Price: —and— Murray: You will be,
and— Price: Let me put forward a possible position
that I might find myself in. The individuals within the department
come to me and they say, we’ve got a great idea for being able to
find greater efficiencies within the department itself, and it
results in merging this agency and that agency—
Murray: I think—I think that—
Price: —and we’ll call it something else.
Murray: Yeah. I—okay. Price: And
we will address the issues of minority health—
Murray: I just have a minute left, and I hear your
answer. Price: —in a big, big way—
Murray: You’re not committed, okay.
Price: —and make certain that it is responsive to
patients.
Part 2
- 14:50 Senator Ron Wyden: Congressman
Price owns stock in an Australian biomedical firm called Innate
Immunotherapeutics. His first stock purchase came in 2015 after
consulting Representative Chris Collins, the company’s top
shareholder and a member of its board. In 2016 the congressman was
invited to participate in a special stock sale called a private
placement. The company offered the private placement to raise funds
for testing on an experimental treatment it intends to put up for
FDA approval. Through this private placement, the congressman
increased his stake in the company more than 500 percent. He has
said he was unaware he paid a price below market value. It is hard
to see how this claim passes the smell test. Company filings with
the Australia’s stock exchange clearly state that this specific
private placement would be made at below-market prices. The
treasury department handbook on private placement states, and I
will quote, they “are offered only to sophisticated investors in a
nonpublic manner.” The congressman also said last week he directed
the stock purchase himself, departing from what he said was typical
practice. Then, there’s the matter of what was omitted from the
congressman’s notarized disclosures. The congressman’s stake in
Innate is more than five times larger than the figure he reported
to ethic’s officials when he became a nominee. He disclosed owning
less than $50,000 of Innate stock. At the time the disclosure was
filed, by my calculation, his shares had a value of more than
$250,000. Today his stake is valued at more than a half million
dollars. Based on the math, it appears that the private placement
was excluded entirely from the congressman’s financial disclosure.
This company’s fortunes could be affected directly by legislation
and treaties that come before the Congress.
- 30:49 Senator Orrin Hatch: First, is
there anything that you are aware of in your background that might
present a conflict of interest with the duties of the office to
which you have been nominated? Tom Price: I do
not.
- 51:36 Senator Ron Wyden: Will you
commit to not implementing the order until the replacement plan is
in place? Tom Price: As I mentioned, Senator, what
I commit to you and what I commit to the American people is to keep
patients the center of healthcare, and what that means to me is
making certain that every single American has access to affordable
health coverage that will provide the highest-quality healthcare
that the world can provide.
- 1:24:34 Senator Richard Burr: Are you
covered by the STOCK Act, legislation passed by Congress that
requires you and every other member to publicly disclose all sales
and purchases of assets within 30 days? Tom Price:
Yes, sir. Burr: Now, you’ve been accused of not
providing the committee of information related to your tax and
financial records that were required of you. Are there any records
you have been asked to provide that you have refused to provide?
Price: None whatsoever. Burr: So
all of your records are in. Price: Absolutely.
Burr: Now, I’ve got to ask you, does it trouble
you at all that as a nominee to serve in this administration that
some want to hold you to a different standard than you as a member
of Congress, and I might say the same standard that they currently
buy and sell and trade assets on? Does it burn you that they want
to hold you to a different standard now that you’re a nominee than
they are as a member? Price: Well, I—we know
what’s going on here. Burr: Oh, we do.
Price: I mean— Burr: We do.
Price: It’s—and I understand. And as my wife tells
me, I volunteered for this, so…
- 1:26:49 Senator Richard Burr: As the
nominee and hopefully—and I think you will be—the secretary of HHS,
what are the main goals of an Obamacare replacement plan?
Tom Price: Main goals, as I mentioned, are
outlined in those principles, that is imperative that we have a
system that’s accessible for every single American; that’s
affordable for every single American; that is incentivizes and
provides the highest-quality healthcare that the world knows; and
provides choices to patients so that they’re the ones selecting
who’s treating them, when, where, and the like. So it’s complicated
to do, but it’s pretty simple stuff.
- 1:34:58 Senator Johnny Isakson: Any
one of us can take a financial disclosure—and there’s something
called desperate impact, where you take two facts—one over here and
one over there—to make a wrong. Any one of us could do it to
disrupt or misdirect people’s thoughts on somebody. It’s been
happening to you a lot because people have taken things that you
have disclosed and tried to extrapolate some evil that would keep
you from being secretary of HHS when, in fact, it shouldn’t be
true. For example, if you go to Senator Wyden’s annual report, he
owns an interest in BlackRock Floating Rate Income Fund. The major
holding of that fund is Valeant Pharmaceuticals. They’re the people
we jumped all over for 2700 percent increases last year in
pharmaceutical products. But we’re not accusing the ranking member
of being for raising pharmaceutical prices, but you could take that
extrapolation out of that and then indict somebody and accuse them.
Is that not true?
- 1:51:30 Senator Michael Bennet: I
wonder whether you also believe that it’s essential that there be a
floor for insurance providers. You know, some of the things that
the Affordable Care Act require for coverage include outpatient
care; emergency services; hospitalization; maternity and newborn
care; prescription drugs; rehab services; lab services;
preventative care, such as birth control and mammograms; pediatric
services, like vaccines; routine dental exams for children younger
than 19. I’m not going to ask you to go through each one of those,
but directionally, are we headed to a world where people in rural
America have to settle for coverage for catastrophic care; are we
headed to a place where there is regulation of insurance providers
that say if you are going to be an insurance market, you
need—particularly if we’re in a world where your son had crossed
state lines —there has to be a floor of the services you’re willing
to pay for? Tom Price: I think there has to be
absolutely credible coverage, and I think that it’s important that
the coverage—that individuals ought to be able to purchase this
coverage that they want.
- 1:56:45 Senator Pat Toomey: When we
talk about repeal, sometimes I hear people say, well, we’ve got to
keep coverage of pre-existing conditions because, you know, we’ve
got to keep that. And when I hear that, I think that we’re missing
something here, and here’s what I’m getting at. There’s obviously a
number of Americans who suffer from chronic, expensive healthcare
needs. They’ve had these conditions sometimes all their lives,
sometimes for some other period of time. And for many of them the
proper care for those conditions is unaffordable. I think we agree
that we want to make sure those people get the healthcare they
need. Now, one way to force it is to force insurance companies to
provide health-insurance coverage for someone as soon as they show
up, regardless of what condition they have, which is kind of like
asking the property casualty company to rebuild the house after
it’s burned down. But that’s only one way to deal with this, and so
am I correct: is it your view that there are other perhaps more
effective ways—since, after all, Obamacare’s in a collapse—to make
sure that people with these pre-existing chronic conditions get the
healthcare that they need at an affordable price without
necessarily having the guaranteed-issue mandate in the general
population? Tom Price: I think there are other
options, and I think it’s important, again, to appreciate that the
position that we currently find ourselves in, with policy in this
nation, is that those folks, in a very short period of time, are
going to have nothing because of the collapse of the market.
- 2:18:05 Tom Price: Every single
individual ought to be able to have access to coverage.
- 2:29:45 Senator Tim Scott: My last
question has to do with the employer-sponsored healthcare system
that we’re so accustomed to in this country, that provides about
175 million Americans with their insurance. In my home state of
South Carolina, of course, we have about two and a half million
people covered by their employer coverage. If confirmed as HHS
secretary, how would you support American employers in their effort
to provide effective family health coverage in a consistent and
affordable manner? Said differently, there’s been some conversation
about looking for ways to decouple having health insurance through
your employer. Tom Price: I think the employer
system has been absolutely a remarkable success in allowing
individuals to gain coverage that they otherwise might not gain. I
think that preserving the employer system is imperative. That being
said, I think that there may be ways in which individual
employers—I’ve heard from employers who say, if you just give me an
opportunity to provide my employee the kind of resources so that he
or she is able to select the coverage that they want, then that
makes more sense to them. And if that works from a voluntary
standpoint for employers and for employees, then it may be
something to look at. Scott: That would be more
like the HRA approach where— Price: Exactly.
Scott: —employer funds an account, and the
employee chooses the health insurance, not necessarily under the
umbrella of the employer specifically. Price:
Exactly. And gains the same tax benefit.
- 2:58:00 Tom Price: What I’m for is
making certain, again, that the Medicaid population has access to
the highest-quality care possible, and we’ll do everything to
improve that because right now so many in the Medicaid population
don’t have access to the highest-quality care.
- 3:20:50 Tom Price: Our goal is to
make certain that seniors have access to the highest-quality
healthcare possible at an affordable price. Senator Bob
Menendez: Well, access without the ability to afford it,
and I’ll end on this— Price: That's what I said,
affordable price.
- 3:28:45 Senator Sherrod Brown: If you
and he are working together, are you going to suggest to him that
we find a way in repeal and replace to make sure there is
guaranteed healthcare for our nation’s veterans? Tom
Price: Well, I think it’s vital, again, as I’ve mentioned
before, that every single American have access to affordable
coverage that’s of high quality, and that’s our goal, and that’s
our commitment.
- 3:30:52 [regarding a disabled child coverd by
Medicaid] Tom Price: We are absolutely committed
to making certain that that child and every other child and every
other individual in this nation has access to the highest-quality
care possible. Senator Bob Casey Jr.: Okay, so not
an access—he will have the medical care that he has right now or
better—if you can come up with a better level of care, that’s
fine—but he will have at least the coverage of Medicaid and all
that that entails that he has right now. And that’s either a yes or
no; that’s not— Price: No, it’s not a yes or no
because the fact of the matter is that in order for the current law
to change, you all have to change it— Casey: No,
but here’s— Price: —and if I’m given the privilege
of leading at the Department of Health and Human Services—
Casey: Here’s why it’s yes—
Price: and I respond to— Casey:
You should stop talking around this. You have led the fight in the
House, backed up by Speaker Ryan, for years—
Price: To improve Medicaid.
Casey: —to block grant Medicaid, okay?
Price: To improve Medicaid.
Casey: To block grant Medicaid. What that means
is, states will have to decide whether or not this child gets the
Medicaid that he deserves. That’s what happens. So you push it back
to the states and hope it works out…
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