On the surface, Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia) has the right experience to head the Department of Health and Human Services in the incoming Trump administration.
Healthcare background? Price is an orthopedic surgeon. Policy chops? He has been in Congress for 12 years, following four terms as a Georgia state senator.
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He is a member of the Congressional Health Care Caucus and has been pushing his own version of healthcare reform, the Empowering Patients First Act, since 2009. In its latest form, the bill would allow refundable, age-adjusted tax credits with amounts tied to average insurance for people who buy insurance on the individual market and don’t have access to a government or employer plan.
As one of the most vocal congressional critics of the Affordable Care Act, Price fits in with President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to repeal Obamacare as soon as possible. That also puts him in line with the Republican majority in both houses of Congress, so, at first glance, his nomination should sail through the Senate.
But a deeper look indicates that Price could be too extreme for the average American — if there is such a thing anymore. The pushback has already begun.
Within hours of Trump announcing his intention to nominate Price to lead HHS, the American Medical Association came out with a pretty glowing statement in favor of the pick.
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“His service as a physician, state legislator and member of the U.S. Congress provides a depth of experience to lead HHS. Dr. Price has been a leader in the development of health policies to advance patient choice and market-based solutions as well as reduce excessive regulatory burdens that diminish time devoted to patient care and increase costs,” AMA Board of Trustees Chair Dr. Patrice A. Harris said.
That did not sit well with many physicians. Three physicians, Dr. Manik Chhabra Dr. Navin Vij and Dr. Jane Zhu, set up a blog on Medium under the name Clinician Action Network. That site is serving as a petition against Price and the AMA.
“The AMA represents approximately a quarter of physicians in the U.S. — a loud, but minority voice. It certainly does not speak for us,” they wrote.
The statement continued:
We are practicing physicians who deliver healthcare in hospitals and clinics, in cities and rural towns; we are specialists and generalists, and we care for the poor and the rich, the young and the elderly. We see firsthand the difficulties that Americans face daily in accessing affordable, quality healthcare. We believe that in issuing this statement of support for Dr. Price, the AMA has reneged on a fundamental pledge that we as physicians have taken — to protect and advance care for our patients.
We support patient choice. But Dr. Price’s proposed policies threaten to harm our most vulnerable patients and limit their access to healthcare. We cannot support the dismantling of Medicaid, which has helped 15 million Americans gain health coverage since 2014. We oppose Dr. Price’s proposals to reduce funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a critical mechanism by which poor children access preventative care. We wish to protect essential health benefits like treatment for opioid use disorder, prenatal care, and access to contraception.
We see benefits in market-based solutions to some of our healthcare system’s challenges. Like many others, we advocate for improvements in the way healthcare is delivered. But Dr. Price purports to care about efficiency, while opposing innovations by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid [Services] to improve value and eliminate waste in healthcare. He supports plans to privatize Medicare, a critical program which covers 44 million of our elderly patients.
The AMA’s vision statement includes “improving health outcomes” and “better health for all,” and yet by supporting Dr. Price’s candidacy — and therefore, his views — the AMA has not aligned itself with the well-being of patients.
As of 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, the page had 2,550 physician signatories, and the creators said that there were more that they have not had time to add.
On Wednesday, news came out that Price belonged to a far-right group called the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. You’ll find all kinds of critical writing about that organization in liberal publications like Raw Story and New York magazine, but even Fox News picked up a story from STAT that contained this passage:
But Price, a former orthopedic surgeon, is a member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a conservative group that publishes a journal that has promoted discredited views — including the supposed link between vaccines and autism.
That’s really just the tip of the iceberg. Tucson, Arizona-based AAPS is listed on Quackwatch (“Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud and Intelligent Decisions”). Back in 2005, the group came out against advance directives. Citing a New England Journal of Medicine article, the AAPS said:
Living wills are not needed to prevent overtreatment in days when hospital procedures have “produced the imperative to ‘move things along.'” Death is usually “orchestrated by professionals in hospitals, … a transition that has markedly shortened the ‘waiting time’ for dying.”
In 2009, I covered a session at the AMA annual meeting in which the president of AAPS’s Florida chapter railed against the newly passed Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. He called comparative-effectiveness research — a component of HITECH — “a tool for controlling care and rationing care.” In other words, he bought into the “death panels” paranoia.
Of course, not all members of that group think alike, but Price himself has spoken out against value-based care that holds physicians accountable for patient outcomes.
So don’t expect his nomination to be smooth. Buckle up!
Photo: RoadTrafficSigns.com via Flickr