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Tom Price Could be the Man to Repeal Obamacare

CBN

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A top priority for the incoming administration is repealing Obamacare and replacing it with something better.  

President-elect Donald Trump chose Dr. Tom Price to lead that effort by nominating him for secretary of Health and Human Services.

The 62-year-old Georgia congressman is the chairman of the House Budget Committee. He criticized Obamacare louder and longer than almost anyone on Capitol Hill.  

"Twenty-six percent of the American people say they've been harmed by this law.  If we had any other law where one out of four Americans were harmed by it, we'd be having hearing after hearing after hearing and bill after bill after bill to fix it. Four out of 10 say they have a positive opinion of this law. That means six out of 10 say, 'No! Help us!'" Price said, speaking at a July 12, 2016 Ways and Means Subcommittee Hearing on Obamacare Premiums.

Price endorsed Trump near the end of the GOP primaries in May and was one of the first House committee chairmen to do so. 

Price is also a physician--one of only a handful of medical doctors serving on Capitol Hill.  He says the years he has spent in both the fields of medicine and politics makes him uniquely qualified to craft healthcare legislation. Price says his goal is to minimize the role of government in healthcare.

"Before going into public service I practiced orthopedic surgery for over 20 years," he said, "That first-hand experience taught me there's nothing more sacred in healthcare than the doctor-patient relationship."

The HHS secretary oversees a $1 trillion annual budget and makes decisions affecting all Americans on issues like food safety, vaccines and developing lifesaving drugs--also programs insuring 100 million Americans such as Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare.

Not long after President Barack Obama signed his healthcare bill into law, Price began introducing replacement bills, which were eventually shot down.  However, in a Trump administration, Price's ideas could actually be implemented. 

Price supports tax credits based on age, not income, to encourage younger people to purchase health insurance.

He wants consumers to have the ability to purchase private insurance across state lines to increase competition and lower costs.

He favors the expansion of Health Savings Accounts for people on government healthcare plans so patients can have more control.

He has a plan to make sure people with pre-existing conditions are protected.

Price says when it comes to health insurance, there's safety in numbers. 

"We would allow all those individuals to pool together…into groups of hundreds of thousands or a million or more individuals," explained Price.

"So they get the purchasing power of millions. What happens then is that it makes it so that no one individual's adverse health status drives up the cost for anybody else," he continued.

Price also wants to get rid of tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion provider--accusing some clinics of "barbaric" practices.  

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said Price "poses a grave threat to women's health" and "could take women back decades." 

She isn't the only one opposing Price's nomination. Congressional Democrats are crying foul, accusing Price of ethical missteps by investing in healthcare companies that benefited from legislation and more than 5,000 physicians have signed a petition voicing their opposition to his possible appointment as HHS secretary.

Despite that opposition, Price has the backing of two physician groups, The American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges. 

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