RNs: HHS Nominee Poses Significant Threat to Public Health

Health and Human Services Secretary-designate, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

National Nurses United is calling on members of the Senate Finance Committee to press Rep. Tom Price on critical issues affecting public health and safety as the committee holds a hearing on Price’s nomination Tuesday to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services.

NNU has previously announced its opposition to Price.

“During his first hearing before the Senate HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions), Rep. Price failed to provide any reassurance that he will be an advocate for the public interest, rather than the narrow interest of the corporate healthcare industry and his most conservative backers who have long threatened our vital safety net protections,” said NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN.

“We urge the Finance Committee members to challenge his commitments to public health, as well as providing truthful answers to the serious questions regarding his apparent conflict of interest in stock investments and purchases on issues on which he stood to profit from legislation he influenced,” Ross said.

“It is also important for Price to end the evasion of how the Trump administration he will represent will meet the guarantees promised by President Trump that no one will lose health coverage while also lowering the high costs of healthcare premiums and other out of pocket costs,” Ross said.

“None of the proposals being floated by various Republican legislators would come anywhere near meeting those tests. The only approach that would actually improve healthcare coverage and costs if the Affordable Care Act is repealed would be to improve Medicare and expand it to cover all Americans.”

In a commentary last week, NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro echoed Sen. Bernie Sanders biting critique of Price’s attempt to equate “access” to buying insurance with actual care. “ ‘Has access to’ does not mean that they are guaranteed health care. I have access to buying a $10 million home; I don’t have the money to do that,” Sanders said. http://bit.ly/2jRsknA

“Unpack the evasions and you have the Ayn Rand-Tea Party philosophy in a nutshell. You only deserve the healthcare you can buy, from private insurance companies that have a history of price gouging with multiple restrictions on the care you can receive even after paying your premiums,” DeMoro wrote.

Ross urged Finance Committee members to continue to push Price on “his evasions and double speak. We need healthcare, not just insurance with costs so high you can’t get the care you need, especially when you are sick and vulnerable.”

Committee members, Ross continued, “should ask Rep. Price if he believes access to care should be determined by one’s income, rather than patient need, the general approach of the proposals floated by those advocating repeal of the ACA. They should ask why, when talking about ‘government’ interference in healthcare, he and other conservatives ignore the widespread interference with care imposed by insurance companies.

“They should ask why he favors the high administrative costs of insurance companies compared to the low administrative costs of Medicare, an indication that switching to a Medicare for all system would produce massive public savings. And they should ask why he favors cutting Medicaid through the block grant to states proposals that would surely mean the loss of health coverage for millions of low and moderate income people.”

Price should also continue to be challenged on his long history of votes against children’s health and women’s health programs, his support for the privatization of Medicare, and his opposition to using the bulk purchasing power of Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, said Ross.

“And, we expect the Finance Committee to push hard on the appalling conflicts of interest. The cavalier dismissal of broad concerns many people have about his apparent profiteering from his legislative position is simply unacceptable, and by itself should disqualify his nomination,” Ross noted.

Among the concerns are that Price bought shares in a medical device company last year and then introduced legislation less than a week later to benefit the firm. In December, the Wall Street Journal  reported that Price has traded over $300,000 in healthcare stocks while promoting bills that affected the profits of those companies.

“Nurses across the country are carefully monitoring the actions of the Finance Committee and the full Senate on these hearings, and how all members of Senate will vote on this nomination. All Senators should know they will be held accountable on a vote that jeopardizes our patients, and our communities,” Ross concluded.