WASHINGTON, D.C. — Next up in this week of contentious confirmation fights over President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks: Tom Price.
As secretary of health and human services, Price, a congressman and former orthopedic surgeon, would be the president’s point man on repealing and replacing Obamacare — a longtime Price goal.
Price would be responsible for any changes in how government interacts with drug and medical device companies, yet he has gone to bat for such companies before — while owning shares in their stocks. And he’d be the boss over Medicare, so if proposals come up again to raise the age for coverage and expand its privatization, his past receptivity to it will come up.
Price, in other words, would be in charge of changing many things Democrats want left alone and Republicans want altered.
“He probably has as much knowledge of our healthcare system as anybody on earth,” Sen Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, said on the Senate floor Thursday morning.
Democrats take a different view on past ideas Republicans say are needed to shore up Medicare’s finances. They say would erode care for seniors; Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, called Price’s proposals “immoral” and out of touch.
“If you’re a barber in Garfield Heights, you’ve got to wait until you’re 67 or 70 before you can draw Medicare?” Brown said in a Senate floor speech Thursday morning. Brown also said that based on financial transactions, Price’s ethics are “challenged.”
So who is Price and what are these contentious issues? Here are some answers.
Basic bio:
Price, 62, came to the U.S. House of Representatives after winning election in the Atlanta area in 2004. Before that, he was in the Georgia Senate.
He is an orthopedic surgeon with undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan. In Congress, he served on the Ways and Means Committee, which has oversight of taxes, and chaired the House Budget Committee.
Past position on Medicare:
Like other Republicans, Price has said that government entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare must be reformed to keep them solvent in the long run. But his solutions are different from those of Democrats, who look to close tax loopholes or capture higher premium or tax payments from high earners.
Price has endorsed two controversial proposals. One would raise the eligibility age for Medicare, the program that covers healthcare costs for most Americans age 65 and older. While eligibility for Social Security has crept upward to 66 and 67, and there are discussions of making it even higher in the future, Medicare eligibility has not changed. It needs to, Price and other Republicans say.
How long do you want to wait?
The other proposal would give seniors a choice to buy a fixed voucher they could use to buy health insurance. That’s a substantial change from the current system in which, save for some exceptions, the government pays doctors and hospitals for service.
Republicans say the private sector would be more efficient, although Trump has not endorsed Medicare vouchers. Democrats say Medicare is already highly efficient, and they worry about total privatization later.
Position on Obamacare:
As soon as the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, Republicans started trying to repeal it. Price has been a major player.
His proposals would scrap Obamacare’s direct subsidies to help many people reduce the cost of health insurance. Instead, he would:
- Offer refundable tax credits.
- Incentivize higher contributions to health savings accounts.
- Give federal money to states to set up high-risk insurance pools for people whose cost of care prompts insurers to reject covering them.
- Encourage insurers to sell across state lines.
Selling insurance across state lines might not be all that proponents hope
These ideas, from Price’s Empowering Patients First Act, are under Republican consideration now with Trump’s approval, in a proposal called A Better Way to Fix Healthcare. Price’s Patients First Act also would have barred the use of any tax funds or tax credits to pay for coverage that includes abortions, with some exceptions.
Personal finances:
Price is wealthy, with a net worth estimated in 2014 at $13.6 million and has been accused in several media accounts of buying medical and medical-device stocks before working on legislation to roll back regulations or fees on those companies or the industry.
The Wall Street Journal reported that contrary to what Price told the Senate in a confirmation hearing, Price got a privileged offer to buy shares in an Australian biomedical firm, Innate Immunotherapeutics, at a discount. Only 20 American investors got the offer, the Journal said, and Price was invited to participate through a special invitation.
The Journal also reported that Price traded shares since 2012 in about 40 healthcare companies while on a congressional subcommittee looking at helping the industry cut fees, taxes or regulations.
In a separate report, USA Today said Price bought $15,000 stock in McKesson, a drug distribution and medical equipment company, and introduced legislation a month later that would help McKesson and other firms avoid cuts in Medicare payments.
And CNN reported that Price did something similar after purchasing stock in Zimmer Biomet, a company that makes knee and hip implants.
These transactions trouble independent watchdog groups. Price says his broker handled his transactions and he had no actual conflicts or ethics violations. Legislation he promoted had backing of other lawmakers including Democrats, spokespeople for Price have said.
What’s next:
The Senate expects to vote to confirm Price late Thursday or Friday, although the schedule could change. Republicans hold 52 of the Senate’s 100 seats, and no defections are expected. Ohio U.S. Sen. Rob Portman has already said he believes Price is qualified.
Portman said early this month that Price would help replace Obamacare “with a better system that lowers healthcare costs.” He said Price has assured him support for addiction treatment, a priority on which Portman partly based his recent reelection campaign. The heroin and opioid epidemic in Ohio have been an ongoing focus for Portman, who ran as independent-minded and now is taking heat for voting to confirm Betsy DeVos for education secretary this week.
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Democrats including Brown will vote no on Price. Without a majority, they’ll lose.
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