Trump nominee reaffirms
support for assault on Medicare and Medicaid
By Zaida Green
19 January 2017
19 January 2017
Republican Representative Tom Price, president-elect Donald
Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),
reiterated his intention to repeal Obamacare and his support for the
dismantling of Medicaid and gutting of Medicare, in testimony before the Senate
Wednesday.
Over the course of the nearly four-hour confirmation
hearing, Price made clear his intent to keep unfettered the right of the
healthcare industry to profit from mass suffering, calling for the
transformation of Medicaid into a state-run program funded via federal block
grants and refusing to commit to maintaining any of the minimal patient
protections afforded by the Affordable Care Act, generally referred to as
Obamacare.
Speaking before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee, Price gave few details on the Republicans’ plan to replace
Obamacare. While claiming, “Nobody is interested in pulling the rug out from
anybody,” Price refused to give a timetable or any other specific details on a
substitute health plan, suggesting that any replacement legislation would be
implemented piecemeal, leaving open the possibility that the 30 million people
who have gained minimal health care coverage through the ACA’s exchanges and
Medicaid expansion could be left stranded without health insurance for an
indefinite length of time.
Price, who was chairman of the House Budget Committee,
refused to commit to Trump’s repeated campaign promise that his administration
would not impose any cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, claiming that dollars were
“the wrong metric” to measure resources for patient care. The Empowering
Patients First Act (EPFA), the legislation which Price proposed in 2015 to
replace the ACA last year, would cut $449 billion from Medicare and $1.1
trillion from Medicaid over the next decade.
Price gave vague and non-committal answers to questions
about whether replacement legislation would maintain the limited protections
afforded by the ACA, such as the prohibition on lifetime caps on most benefits;
the requirement that insurance companies not exclude coverage for pre-existing
conditions; the requirement that health plans include benefits such as mental
health care, emergency services, and prescription drug coverage; and the right
of young people to receive coverage from their parents’ insurance plans up to
the age of 26.
All of Price’s answers amounted to variations on the themes
of “patient choice” and the freedom “for every American to access the type of
coverage they want.” In reality, this is the “freedom” to be either sucked dry
by insurance companies for minimal coverage, to pay even more for comprehensive
coverage, or to gamble on health and go without any coverage at all.
On the other hand, Price spoke sympathetically of the
insurance companies preparing the premiums they would levy on patients in 2018,
saying that “What they need to hear from all of us, I believe, is a level of
support and stability in the market.”
Senate Democrats mounted a cynical assault against Price,
citing Trump’s lying promise about not touching Medicare and Medicaid and
repeatedly asking Price if he would uphold it, thus presenting the billionaire
president-elect as sympathetic to these government-run health insurance
programs, and giving themselves a pretext for collaborating with the new
administration.
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Al
Franken of Minnesota referred to the billionaire real estate mogul’s recent
comment that his administration would give “insurance for everybody”, and
attempting to wring out of Price a commitment to Trump’s supposed promise.
Senator Bernie Sanders, the self-described “democratic
socialist” who ran for presidency in the Democratic primary, urged Price, “Will
you work with us on this?” as he questioned him on whether he would support the
opening up of a market to cheaper imported prescription drugs.
The Democrats also criticized the blatant conflict of
interest in Price holding investments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in
pharmaceutical and medical device companies as he introduced bills that would
boost the profits of these companies.
One senator, Democrat Christopher Murphy from Connecticut,
pointing worryingly to the financial backgrounds of the rest of Trump’s
cabinet, said, “I raise [these conflict of interests issues] because I think
there’s great concern ... [among] Americans that this whole administration is
starting to look like a get-rich scheme.”
The author also
recommends:
Pledging “insurance
for everybody,” Trump prepares to escalate attack on health care
[17 January 2017]
[17 January 2017]
Trump names
Medicare opponent to head health programs: Who is Tom Price?
[01 December 2016]
[01 December 2016]
MNUCHIN:
THE FORECLOSURE MACHINE!
The FDIC paid OneWest $1 billion,
which Stein said went to “billionaire investors … to cover the close
of foreclosing on working class, everyday American folks.”
“But the bank came under fire for its foreclosure practices as housing
advocacy groups accused it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling
homeowners. In 2011, dozens of demonstrators descended on Mnuchin's $26.5
million home in he wealthy Bel Air neighborhood to protest OneWest's eviction
tactics, according to the Los Angeles Times.”
TRUMPERnomics:
AFTER
OBAMA-CLINTONIMCS, THE LOOTING OF AMERICA BY THE RICH TO CONTINUE UNDER THEIR
OWN, DONALD TRUMP
TRUMP
FILLS THE “SWAMP” WITH CRONY BILLIONAIRES!
"Far
from Trump’s demagogic claims that he would 'drain the swamp,' the corrupt
nexus between Wall Street and Washington is tighter than ever."
OBAMA-CLINTONOMICS is now the new
TRUMPERnomics!
TRUMP VOWS TO SERVE THE RICH WITH
SUPER OBAMA-CLINTONIMCS!
There is a vast chasm between this empty populist rhetoric
and the personnel that Trump has selected to populate his government. The
speech followed a series of cabinet picks, including billionaire asset
strippers, Wall Street bankers, and dedicated opponents of
financial and corporate regulations, public education and Medicare and
Medicaid, to lead the Treasury, Commerce, Education and Health and Human
Services departments.
TRUMP
IMPOSES OBAMA-CLINTONOMICS: Cut Federal Pensions and Medicare to Cover Tax
Cuts For the Super Rich
"Trump
is not the initiator of this class war against working people. It has been
underway for decades, beginning in earnest with the election of
Ronald Reagan in 1980 and continuing under every
succeeding administration, including the eight-year tenures of
Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The colossal redistribution of
wealth and income from the bottom to the top of American society reached
record proportions under Obama, whose legacy of falling
living standards and worsening economic crisis for tens of millions
of workers was a decisive factor in the victory of the fascistic demagogue
and con artist Trump."
No comments:
Post a Comment