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Democratic leaders on Wednesday vowed to fight “tooth and nail” against any Republican push to change Medicare so that it relies more on private insurers. “I say to my Republican colleagues: Turn back because we will fight you on this tooth and nail. We will win. You will lose,” Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the incoming Democratic leader said at a press conference. He was joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), as well as liberal groups that were delivering to Republican leaders a petition against Medicare cuts with over 1 million signatures. (Sullivan, 12/7)

Senate Democrats have staked out one of the policy arenas in which they will challenge the Trump administration: changes to the health care entitlement programs Medicare and Medicaid. Trump pledged repeatedly during the campaign that he would not touch entitlement programs if he were elected. However, his appointment of Rep. Tom Price of Georgia to run the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as comments from House Speaker Paul Ryan about Republican priorities in the coming Congress, have left Democrats concerned that the popular but expensive programs will suffer under a Trump administration. (Garver, 12/7)

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is still hammering Republicans on Medicare, promising a tough confirmation process for Rep. Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. “He’s going to get some heck of a hearing when he comes before us in the Senate,” Schumer said at a press conference Wednesday at which Democrats pledged to fight and win any Republican efforts to reform Medicare. He called the Georgia Republican “one of the most avowed enemies of Medicare in the country.” (McIntire, 12/7)

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, the New Yorker who will lead the chamber's Democrats in the next Congress, promised a major fight over President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services. Schumer is using Georgia Rep. Tom Price’s Medicare proposals to depict Republicans as leading what Democrats call a “war on seniors.” Schumer on Wednesday told reporters that Trump’s choice of Price is his “biggest statement” on the giant federal health program despite the president-elect's past claims that he wouldn’t cut Medicare. (Young, 12/7)