Senate Confirms Tom Price as Health and Human Services Secretary Georgia congressman will be point person on dismantling of Affordable Care Act By Michelle Hackman

Posted By on February 10th, 2017

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tom-price-confirmed-as-health-and-human-services-chief-tasked-with-dismantling-obamacare-1486711324

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate confirmed House Budget Chairman Tom Price (R., Ga.), President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, in a 52-47 party-line vote early Friday morning, placing him atop a sprawling agency tasked with dismantling the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Price’s nomination served as the first major proxy fight in Congress over the fate of former President Barack Obama’s signature health law, which Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace. The 62-year-old former orthopedic surgeon has earned a reputation in Congress as a leader in pushing his party’s health-policy plans—especially an alternative to the ACA.

His confirmation boosts Republican efforts to rewrite the law sometimes called “Obamacare,” as well as overhaul Medicaid, a push that has been bogged down in recent weeks as the GOP struggles to unify behind a health law of its own. Democrats, beyond hoping to salvage the ACA, have criticized Mr. Price as an industry insider who they say will favor the medical industry at the expense of patients.

 Mr. Price is also expected to follow through on an executive order, issued by Mr. Trump on the first day of his administration, directing federal agencies to pare back regulatory elements of the ACA in ways that don’t require congressional action. There is little evidence of action on that front so far, but Mr. Price’s installation could change that. One rule he could overturn, for example, is the Obama administration’s mandate that health plans include contraceptive coverage at no cost to the patient, a protection that isn’t explicitly written into the law. As a congressman, Mr. Price voted regularly against federal funding for abortion and expressed skepticism about federal contraception requirements.

Mr. Price’s confirmation process, like that of other high-profile Trump nominees, has been contentious and at times angry. Prominent Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Al Franken of Minnesota, grilled Mr. Price about his views on central ACA provisions—including an expansion of Medicaid, which analysts estimate has provided 12 million Americans coverage and which Mr. Price, who criticizes the Medicaid program as inefficient, has voted to repeal. CONTINUE AT SITE
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