Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Democrats Vow To Wage War Against Price Nomination
Democrats pledged Tuesday to wage a vigorous war questioning Tom Price鈥檚 nomination as secretary of health and human services, centering on his sympathy for privatizing Medicare. 鈥淗e is going to get a lot of very strong and very thorough questions about the kinds of things that he has proposed,鈥 said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who will be the Senate鈥檚 Democratic leader next year. 鈥淎nd if he sticks with them, I think there鈥檚 a chance that his nomination will fail.鈥 Schumer accused Republicans of 鈥減lotting a war on seniors next year.鈥 (Lightman, 11/29)
Senate Democrats plan to put up a fight against Donald Trump鈥檚 choice of聽Representative Tom Price to become secretary of Health and Human Services, though members of the minority party know they can鈥檛 block confirmation by themselves. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, who becomes minority leader in January, said Tuesday that Democrats could block Price if a few Republicans join them. Price of Georgia has led efforts to dismantle Obamacare and backs offering Medicare recipients a fixed sum to shop for private coverage. (Dennis, 11/29)
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate Democratic leader, said Price has proven to be far out of the mainstream of what Americans want" for health care programs and services for seniors, the disabled and women."Nominating Congressman Price to be the HHS secretary is akin to asking the fox to guard the hen house," Schumer said. (11/29)
Connecticut Democrats on Tuesday sharply criticized President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 selection of Rep. Tom Price, the architect of the House GOP鈥檚 repeal of the Affordable Care Act, as the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. (Radelat, 11/29)
President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 nomination of Georgia Congressman Tom Price to be U.S. secretary of health and human services didn鈥檛 just send shock waves through California because of his plan to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. After all, Trump had already promised numerous times to 鈥渞epeal and replace鈥 President Barack Obama鈥檚 signature health care program on the campaign trail. What really rattled California health care experts and advocates was Price鈥檚 written plan for overhauling Medicaid, the nation鈥檚 health plan for the poor, and privatizing Medicare 聽鈥 which covers 57 million Americans age 65 and older. (Seipel, 11/29)