Six-term Georgia congressman Rep. Tom Price was nominated on Tuesday as the new secretary of Health and Human Services by President-elect Donald Trump.
Price, a former orthopedic surgeon, has been a staunch critic of the Affordable Care Act since its conception. In a statement about Price’s appointment, Trump said:
“He is exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare.”
His appointment as secretary of HHS is a clear signal that Trump’s administration will be attempting to move forward with repealing Obamacare, a threat that Trump made often during his campaign but had recently been back-peddling.
Rep. Price has been a leader in the congressional attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, even writing legislation called the Empowering Patients First Act, which aims to repeal the majority of the Affordable Care Act’s legislation and move towards a more “market-based” approach.
Part of the Empowering Patients First Act would allow doctors to opt out of Medicare, giving them the ability to charge more than what is normally allowed through the program’s rules. According to Timothy Jost, a law professor and health-policy expert at Washington and Lee University:
“The bill should be called ‘Empowering Doctors First’… He’s a doctor, and it’s clear he is trying to shield doctors.”
Price’s plan would also restructure the benefits given to Americans without health insurance through their employer or the government. It would allow insurers to deny coverage to certain people with a pre-existing condition if they switch their coverage, overturning a major part of Obamacare with which Trump actually agreed.
Furthermore, the Empowering Patients First Act would give insurers the ability to increase rates for older people with chronic care needs, and the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare would be rolled back, shifting roughly 15 million people from government-sponsored insurance to a much more expensive free market.
The appointment of Price to secretary of Health and Human Services has received much criticism from Democrats and advocates of the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York stated:
“Nominating Congressman Price to be the HHS secretary is akin to asking the fox to guard the hen house.”
Timothy Jost believes that, ironically, Price’s plan would end up negatively affecting many of the people who voted Trump into the White House, as:
“It will help wealthier people and does nothing to help the working-class people who actually voted for Trump.”
If the Affordable Care Act is ultimately repealed and replaced, we can only hope those who supported Trump in this past election are smart enough to realize that he’s leaving them all behind in order to line pockets of insurance companies and hospitals. Maybe in 2020 we’ll see the 15 million people that get their insurance taken away show up at the polls and vote for a candidate who actually cares about them.
Watch the video below to see Trump saying he’ll keep parts of Obamacare, something that is not part of Price’s plan:
Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr/CC-2.0
