Senate Democrats grilled Georgia Congressman Tom Price, Donald Trump's pick to be the nation's top health official, about his investments in health care companies and past proposals to overhaul Medicare and Medicaid during a hearing Wednesday.
In what turned out to be a partisan showdown, Price appeared unflustered during the roughly four-hour-long question-and-answer session in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
One by one, Republicans on the panel said Price is qualified to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and has followed the letter of the law on his finances. And Price himself insisted repeatedly that he did nothing illegal regarding his stocks, including not receiving or acting on any inside information.
“I did not have access to nonpublic information,” he said.
Before questioning got underway, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia delivered a full-throated endorsement of his longtime colleague as he undertook the ceremonial duty of introducing Price to the committee, of which he’s also a member.
“Tom Price believes in accountability,” Isakson said. “He may be the only one of us who reads all the bills.”
Democrats, meanwhile, voiced deep concerns about Price’s past proposals to dismantle and replace the Affordable Care Act and overhaul the country’s Medicare and Medicaid entitlement programs that provide health coverage to tens of millions of Americans ages 65 and older, as well as poor children and the disabled.
"Just last week, you voted to begin the process of ripping apart our health care system without any plan to replace it," U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in an opening statement directed at Price. "… My constituents are coming up to me with tears in their eyes wondering what the future holds for their health care given the chaos Republican efforts could cause."
THE LATEST: Senators question Price
The confirmation hearing was the first of two for the Roswell Republican. The Senate Finance Committee, which will ultimately vote on Price's nomination, is scheduled to question him Tuesday.
If Republicans stick together on Price nomination, which they’ve shown every indication of doing in recent weeks, he will win confirmation. The chairman of the Senate health committee said he hoped that could occur in early February.
The fate of Medicare and Medicaid
If there’s one exchange with Price that appeared to get under the GOP’s skin, it was during questioning by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
The Massachusetts Democrat began by reading out the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that Price proposed in previous legislation before repeatedly asking him to ensure that he wouldn’t cut a dollar from entitlement programs.
Dollars are “the wrong metric,” Price replied. “It’s the care of the patients.”
“You might want to print out President-elect Trump’s statement, ‘I am not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,’ and post that above your desk in your new office because Americans will be watching to make sure you follow through on that promise,” Warren said.
Price did not get a chance to respond before Warren began asking Price about his stocks.
In remarks at several points during the hearing, Isakson, the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, shot back at Democratic criticism regarding Price's stock trades.
Isakson backed up the Trump transition team’s argument that Price was not aware of a purchase of Zimmer Biomet stock that was made on his behalf by a broker until a month later, after he had introduced a bill that would have directly benefited the company.
“The allegations that were made yesterday on the Senate floor were patently wrong,” he said. “They took two correct things and put them together to say an incorrect thing.”
Isakson again defended Price following Warren’s volley of questions about Price’s stock trades.
“It’s entirely possible for any of us to have somebody making investments on our behalf and us not know where that money is invested because of the very way it works,” Isakson said.
Repeal and replace
If confirmed as head of HHS, Price would be in a prime position to steer the repeal and replacement of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act.
So far, more than 11 million Americans — including nearly half a million Georgians — have signed up for 2017 health insurance through the ACA, with open enrollment still going on through the end of the month.
The Affordable Care Act in Georgia
The Senate and House both voted last week to begin the repeal process.
Democrats, health care providers, consumer groups and others have warned that repealing the law without having an alternative plan at the ready could cause the collapse of the country's individual insurance market and cause millions of Americans to lose coverage.
An estimated 18 million Americans could lose their health insurance in the first year of repeal alone, a report issued by the Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday showed. That number would grow to 32 million uninsured within a decade.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Democrats asked Price to clarify his positions regarding policy areas in which he had differed with Trump in the past.
When asked by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders about Trump’s campaign pledge not to touch entitlement programs, Price said he had “no reason to believe that position has changed.” Price had previously advocated for overhauling Medicare and converting Medicaid into a block grant program.
The Vermont independent and former Democratic presidential candidate also questioned Price on his past opposition to allowing Medicare to directly negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. Trump had previously flirted with supporting government intervention on the campaign trail, according to the medical news site STAT news, breaking with GOP precedent.
Sanders wasn’t thrilled with Price’s answer, which was, “You have my commitment to work with you and others to make certain that the drug pricing is reasonable.”
Regarding his general thoughts when it comes to health care, Price said he wants “to make certain every American has access to the highest quality of care.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about, about individuals losing health coverage,” Price said earlier in the hearing. “That is not our goal, nor is it our desire, nor is it our plan.”
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