Price confirmed as head of HHS; to be point person in dismantling of Obamacare Fox News, Feb 10, 2017
The Senate early Friday morning confirmed President Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, placing him in position to lead the way in dismantling Obamacare.
It was the Senate's fourth consecutive contested vote for a Trump Cabinet secretary. Partisan battles for Cabinet posts are usually rare, but the first weeks of Trump's presidency have seen little collegiality between the two sides.
Price is a veteran House member and orthopedic surgeon who Republicans call a knowledgeable pick for the job. Democrats say he's an ideologue whose policies would snatch care from many Americans.
“This is the first vote in the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to pare back elements of ObamaCare that do not require a congressional vote, The Wall Street Journal reported. Price is expected to follow through on the order.
Until recently chairman of the House Budget Committee, Price has proposed repealing Obama's health law and replacing it with tax credits, health savings accounts and high-risk pools for sick, costly consumers.
Democrats say those ideas are inadequate and would leave people unprotected against significant health expenses.Republicans have yet to produce a replacement plan and have differed over when they will do so.
Citing Price's long-time support for revamping the Medicare program for the elderly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that with Price's confirmation, "The Republicans launch their first assault in their war on seniors." Trump has said he won't cut Medicare.
Republicans see Price as a knowledgeable leader who will help scuttle Obama's health care overhaul, partly by issuing regulations weakening the law. Democrats describe an ideologue with a shady history of trading health care stocks and whose policies will snatch insurance coverage from Americans.
"He seems to have no higher priority than to terminate health coverage for millions of people," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. She said his preference for limiting women's access to free birth control was "not only wrong, it's arrogant."
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