Tom Price Is Open to a Major Change in How Medicaid Works

There are a lot of questions swirling around the future of the health care system, assuming Trump and congressional Republicans follow through on their plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act and “replace” it with some other plan. Casey noted that the percent of uninsured children under 18 fell from 7.1% to 4.8% under the ACA and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and he asked Price to pledge that it would remain at that level or improve.

Trump has said he’ll propose plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act once Price is confirmed. “Independent experts say this is going to destroy the market on which millions of working families buy health coverage”.

Many on the left sought to frame his views on health care and entitlement programs as extreme and created to favor the rich.

“I think we agree that we want to make sure those people get the health care they need”. Many questions were aimed at Price’s healthcare industry investments, made when he was a member of Congress. Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, on whether he would support block-granting of Medicaid, saying that would be up to Congress to legislate. Medicaid is now an open-ended entitlement program. While the ACA is not ideal, thousands of PLHIV have been transitioned onto insurance through marketplaces and have become eligible for Medicaid benefits. This is the intended aim of those promoting block-granting, despite claims that it would give “power back to the states” to better administer the program. Price answered “no” to both. Republicans hold the majority on the panel and in the Senate.

When asked if vaccines cause autism, Dr. Price said, “The science on that is that it does not”, according U.S. News & World Report.

Congressman Tom Price appears again before the Senate Finance Committee whose Democratic members previously grilled him on his views on Medicare and Medicaid spending.

Price did not get into the details of what he expects to see from Trump on an ACA replacement, and would not move beyond his consistent theme that he will work to put patients first under any new plan with accessible and affordable health care the main goals. Price cynically replied, “It’s true that he said that, yes”, drawing laughter from the hearing room.

Finance committee staffers found that Price undervalued around 400,000 shares of Innate stock he purchased last August.

As for listing the wrong value of his stocks on disclosure forms, Price called it a “clerical error”.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Sen.

“It’s important to appreciate that things have gotten worse in the individual and small-group markets, and we believe-I believe-that it’s a direct result of policies coming from Washington, D.C.”, Price said.

The financial questions were the latest in a string of ethics queries that have dogged Price over the past month.

Price did not answer whether he is in favor of this approach, but did say Medicaid isn’t as responsive to the needs of beneficiaries is it should be.

A few senators peppered Price with questions about the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) program, which Price argued has “gotten off track a bit”.

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Price’s nomination, Sen.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee also postponed its meeting to vote on the nominations of Ryan Zinke and Rick Perry to head the departments of Interior and Energy.