On January 18, 2017, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Representative Tom Price (R-GA) for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Trump Administration. The hearing lasted for close to four hours. Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) decided members of the committee would have seven minutes for questions, a decision that was met with disapproval and disagreement from Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) and fellow members of the Democratic Party.
Questions posed to the nominee took on a decidedly partisan feel with Democrats asking critical questions and Republicans taking a more supportive approach where they instead focused on perceived failures of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Republicans asked many of their questions about “collapsing” individual markets and limited plan options while many Democrats focused on stock purchases in Representative Price’s financial portfolio and Price’s views on health care access.
Throughout his hearing, Representative Price repeatedly mentioned that the ACA replacement plan put into place during the Trump administration will be a patient-centered system where consumers have access to the coverage they want. Democratic members of the committee were skeptical of Representative Price’s statement, pointing out that having access to the coverage is not the same as a guarantee of having health insurance. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) used the analogy that he had access to a $10 million home, but would be financially unable to purchase it as a way demonstrate that point. In addition, Representative Price would not give a direct answer to questions about whether he would commit to not cutting dollars for Medicare and Medicaid. Previously, in both public statements and tweets, President-Elect Trump stated that he would not make cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Multiple Democratic members of the committee posed questions about Representative Price’s stock portfolio, particularly purchases of the companies Zimmer Biomet and Innate Immunotherapeutics. Senate Democrats expressed concern in some of Representative Price’s investments, stating that the Representative introduced bills in the House that would benefit the companies he had invested in. Representative Price maintained that there was no wrongdoing, repeatedly stating that a broker was in charge of his investments. In addition, Representative Price denied using any non-public information from another member of the House, Representative Chris Collins (R-NY), to profit from stock investments in the firm Innate Immunotherapeutics. Representative Price stated that Representative Collins spoke of the company but that Representative Price studied the company himself before the investment. Republicans on the committee came to Representative Price’s defense rebuking questions of Representative Price’s honesty and referring to him as a one of the “premier” people in Congress to help improve the health care system.
The subject of prescription drug pricing was a common thread across multiple questions. Representative Price admitted that drug prices were of concern for many Americans, but did not offer specific suggestions on how the Trump administration would tackle this issue. When asked specifically about Medicare negotiating prices, something that President-Elect Trump has publicly spoken about, Representative Price did not express support for this idea, instead he responded that he would work with the committee on this issue.
As a high profile opponent of some types of new payment initiatives, particularly the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model (CJR), Representative Price was questioned on his opinions of these types of initiatives as well as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which develops these models. Representative Price stated that his major point of contention to this type of payment is the mandatory nature of some of these demonstrations. Representative Price did not come out against CMMI, but instead stated that we needed more innovation in our health care system.
Although Democrats on the Senate HELP Committee fired tough questions at Representative Price, Senator Murray’s closing response paints a fairly clear picture of the path ahead when at the end of the hearing she said “you’re going to get the job.” An interesting revelation from the ranking member who blasted Price in her opening remarks for supporting the defunding of Planned Parenthood and rolling back insurance coverage for reproductive health care benefits.
Following this courtesy hearing, next Representative Price will be appearing before the Senate Finance Committee on January 24, 2017 at 10 A.M. The hearing will be in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and will be available to stream online. This hearing is expected to carry on the partisan tone of the Senate HELP hearing due to the overlap in membership. During the Senate Finance hearing members will again have an opportunity to question Representative Price before casting the first committee votes on whether his nomination should proceed.
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