Tag: Tom Price
It’s doctors who usually know what’s best for your health. When President-elect Donald Trump nominated Rep. Tom Price (R., Ga.), an orthopedic surgeon, to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), he must have thought the same thing. Trump is hoping that Price takes a doctor-oriented approach to reforming the nation’s healthcare system.
And that reform begins with repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare. To Trump, Price is the man to get the ball rolling. Not only is he a licensed and trained physician, but he’s also been a fierce critic of Obamacare and an advocate for overhauling the nation’s entitlement programs.
During his time in Congress, Price has been a leader on both projecting the disastrous impacts of Obamacare and developing positive solutions for improved access to healthcare for all Americans. He was one of the first representatives to draft his own plan to replace Obamacare, the Empower Patients First Act. After refining his plan, Price introduced it as a bill, which has been co-sponsored by several other representatives.
Price’s plan focuses on reforms that doctors care about. During his 12 years in Congress, he consistently argued for limited government and less spending. His legislation will likely mirror his actions as HHS Secretary: removing governmental red tape from doctors and giving Americans more control over their health care.
“As a physician,” he said in the House in 2007, “I know oh so well how the intervention of the state and federal government into the practice of medicine destroys the ability to take care of people. It makes it so you can’t provide quality health care for children and moms and dads.”
According to some, Price’s proposed replacement for Obamacare will offer tax credits to everyone, regardless of income, and help develop health savings accounts for beneficiaries who are not covered by their employers, Medicare, Medicaid, or other sources.
“We wanted to get away from the connection to income,” Price said in 2015. “I’ve become convinced over the past three to four years that it’s much more wise to relate the tax credits to age.” The legislation proposes tax credits of $1,200 per year for people aged 18-35, $2,100 for those aged 35-50, and $3,000 for those over 50.
Besides designing an innovative replacement for Obamacare, Price also wants to rework Medicaid and Medicare. Instead of entitlements, Price wants to convert Medicaid into block grants to states and require “able-bodied” applicants to meet work requirements to receive healthcare benefits. Regarding Medicare, Price supports the idea of moving from a “defined benefit” to a “defined contribution,” where the government would give older or disabled Americans financial help for them to buy private insurance policies.
While it’s still unclear whether Price’s ideas and legislation will receive the bipartisan support to become viable replacements for Obamacare, it’s clear that the nominated HHS Secretary has some thoughtful and innovative ideas on how to improve the nation’s healthcare system.
“There is much work to be done,” Price said in November, “to ensure we have a health care system that works for patients, families, and doctors; that leads the world in the cure and prevention of illness; and that is based on sensible rules to protect the well-being of the country while embracing its innovative spirit.”
To learn more about nominated HHS Secretary Rep. Tom Price and his doctor-oriented approach to reforming the nation’s healthcare system, visit mymedicareplanner.com and contact Tommy Chamouris. Tommy and his staff are committed to protecting senior citizens and helping them navigate through the “Medicare maze”—at no additional cost. See our ad on page 1 of Boomer magazine.
In a weekend interview with The Washington Post, President-elect Donald Trump offered some surprising news, declaring he is nearly finished with his plan to replace President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Trump, who is less than a week away from beginning his four-year presidential term, did not reveal the specifics of his health care replacement but vowed his plan would “have insurance for everybody.”
Trump continued, “There was a philosophy in some circle s that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”
While Trump did not elaborate on the details of his plan, he did reveal that it’s formulated down the to the “final strokes.” He said he is waiting for his secretary of health and human services, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), to be confirmed before he releases the specifics.
While he was tight-lipped about most aspects of his plan, which will replace most aspects of Obamacare, he did make his intentions to target pharmaceutical companies well known. He revealed that drug companies will be forced to negotiate on Medicare and Medicaid prices. Trump also declared his plan will have lower deductibles because he plans to fight pharmaceutical companies over drug prices. “They’re politically protected, but not anymore,” he said
In developing his replacement plan, Trump acknowledged that he paid attention to critics who say that repealing the Affordable Care Act would put coverage at risk for more than 20 million Americans covered under the law’s insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion.
“We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” Trump said. “It’ll be another plan. But they’ll be beautifully covered. I don’t want single-payer. What I do want is to be able to take care of people” He also insisted that Americans “can expect to have great health care. It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.”
Last week, Congress took a big step toward dismantling the ACA by approving a budget resolution that would begin repealing the healthcare law. According to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the budget vote gives Congress “the tools we need for a step-by-step approach to fix these problems and put Americans back in control of their health care.”
While Trump seems all but ready to reveal and implement his replacement plan, there will likely be months of debate and Congressional infighting before the law is passed. However, Trump has warned Congress that he will use the power of his presidency (and social media) to let the American people know that Washington politicians are delaying the implementation of his replacement plan. He noted, “The Congress can’t get cold feet because the people will not let that happen.”
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To learn more about President-elect Trump’s comments about his forthcoming Obamacare replacement plan and his declaration to fight pharmaceutical companies over drug prices, visit mymedicareplanner.com and contact Tommy Chamouris. Tommy and his staff are committed to protecting senior citizens and helping them navigate through the “Medicare maze”—at no additional cost. See our ad on page 1 of Boomer magazine.