General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe New England Journal of Medicine on Tom Price
Tom Price represents a different tradition. Ostensibly, he emphasizes the importance of making our health care system more responsive and affordable to meet the needs of Americas patients and those who care for them.4 But as compared with his predecessors actions, Prices record demonstrates less concern for the sick, the poor, and the health of the public and much greater concern for the economic well-being of their physician caregivers.
Price has sponsored legislation that supports making armor-piercing bullets more accessible and opposing regulations on cigars, and he has voted against regulating tobacco as a drug. His voting record shows long-standing opposition to policies aimed at improving access to care for the most vulnerable Americans. In 20072008, during the presidency of George W. Bush, he was one of only 47 representatives to vote against the DomeniciWellstone Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which improved coverage for mental health care in private insurance plans. He also voted against funding for combating AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; against expansion of the State Childrens Health Insurance Program; and in favor of allowing hospitals to turn away Medicaid and Medicare patients seeking nonemergency care if they could not afford copayments.
Price favors converting Medicare to a premium-support system and changing the structure of Medicaid to a block grant policy options that shift financial risk from the federal government to vulnerable populations. He also opposed reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and has voted against legislation prohibiting job discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and against enforcement of laws against anti-LGBT hate crimes. He favors amending the Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage.In addition, he has been inconsistent in supporting investments in biomedical science. He opposes stem-cell research and voted against expanding the National Institutes of Health budget and against the recently enacted 21st Century Cures Act, showing particular animus toward the Cancer Moonshot.
Price has also been a vociferous opponent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and a leader of the repeal-and-replace movement. His proposal for replacing the ACA is H.R. 2300, the Empowering Patients First Act,5 which would eliminate the ACAs Medicaid expansion and replace its subsidies with flat tax credits based on age, not income ($1,200 per year for someone 18 to 35 years of age; $3,000 for someone 50 or older, with an additional one-time credit of $1,000 toward a health savings account). Prices plan is regressive: it offers much greater subsidies relative to income for purchasers with high incomes and much more meager subsidies for those with low incomes. In todays market, these credits would pay only about one third of the premium of a low-cost plan, leaving a 30-year-old with a premium bill for $2,532, and a 60-year-old with a bill for $5,916 along with a potential out-of-pocket liability of as much as $7,000. By contrast, subsidies under the ACA are based on income and the price of health insurance. Today, a low-income person (with an income of 200% of the federal poverty level) pays, on average, a premium of $1,528 per year (regardless of age) for a plan with an out-of-pocket maximum of $2,350, and that payment does not change even if health insurance premiums rise.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1615714