Trump nominates Obamacare critic as health secretary

Instead, Price would offer tax credits for the purchase of individual and family health insurance policies.

“I am humbled by the incredible challenges that lay ahead and enthusiastic for the opportunity to be a part of solving them on behalf of the American people”, Price said. Trump vowed on the campaign trail to “save” Medicare, but Democrats said Price’s plans could amount to privatizing the government program for the elderly.

♦ High-risk pools to cover the sick, including those with pre-existing conditions.

Under Price’s plan, Americans would get tax credits if they buy health insurance plans, which means no money upfront to buy the policies like millions have now with ACA subsidies.

“Tom Price has led the charge to privatize Medicare, and for this reason, I can not support his nomination”, he said in a statement.

President-elect Donald Trump moved to fill out his Cabinet Tuesday, tapping Georgia Rep. Tom Price to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. It is also yet another sign that his administration will be an unfolding horror show of the most extremist right-wing hucksters intent on dismantling America’s safety net and moral standing in the world.

Throughout the 2016 campaign, all Republican presidential candidates made it a point that they would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known to most as ObamaCare, if they were elected. While that might be a nice benefit for wealthy families, it will do nothing to provide health insurance to families with lower incomes. She said his selection “will result in the complete undermining of our nation’s health care system”.

Among those who want to see Obamacare repealed, more than four in 10 say lawmakers shouldn’t act until they’ve worked out the details of a replacement plan first. “I look forward to working closely with him to bring our Nation’s healthcare system into the 21st century”.

The fox guarding the hen house?

Defenders of Obamacare, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, said Mr Price was too extreme.

“When it comes to issues like Medicare, the Affordable Care Act and Planned Parenthood, Congressman Price and the average American couldn’t be further apart”, Schumer said. The Price plan will improve the health and well being only of corporations and billionaires, while leaving tens of millions of people to suffer – and even die – without access to health care.

As a congressman, Georgia Republican Tom Price has been thwarted in his hopes to repeal the Affordable Care Act and transform Medicare into a voucher-like program for future participants.

“The ACA is hardly a failure”, Scott said in 2015.

He could undo the mandate requiring people to have health insurance. Without specifying a timeline, McCarthy suggested Congress could vote on a repeal quickly, while putting off the date for it to take effect. And that pedigree lends him a health care-related gravitas and political edge which may help explain his selection by the president-elect.

One-fourth, or 26 percent, of Americans favor a full repeal of the health care law, while 17 percent say scale it back, according to the Kaiser poll.

President-elect Donald Trump chose a former Goldman Sachs banker and a billionaire investor to steer economic policy in his administration and a fierce Obamacare critic to dismantle President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare program.

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price, a former orthopedic surgeon who chairs the House Budget Committee, has not merely been a strident critic of Obamacare, saying that it interferes with the ability of patients and doctors to make medical decisions; he’s also authored a 242-page bill to replace it.