It's hard sometimes to figure out what is the most disqualifying thing about Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) for serving in any presidential administration. There's the very strong appearance of very deep corruption during his congressional career.
"It's crazy," says Richard Painter, former chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush whose job included vetting nominees. "We wouldn’t have put up with anybody in the Bush administration buying and selling health care stocks. When you engage in this kind of conduct, you’re asking for allegations to be made against you."
There's his longstanding efforts to destroy Medicare. Which is not hyperbole.
With true radical zeal, Price has said "We will not rest until we make certain that government-run health care [e.g., Medicare] is ended." If confirmed by the Senate, Price will be in a powerful position to carry out his threat to end Medicare.
But let's talk about the more immediate concern, one that Republicans should be freaking out just a little bit about. While they continue to fight out their repeal and replace "strategy" on Obamacare, Price has a plan. And as HHS Secretary, Price can do so much damage to Obamacare—without Congress lifting a finger—that they will be under even more pressure to come up with a fix to pick up the pieces.
Price would replace the law with a plan that does more to benefit the young, healthy, and rich—and disadvantages the sick, old, and poor. His plan also provides significantly less help to those with preexisting conditions than other Republican proposals, particularly the replacement plan offered by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI).
The biggest cut to the poor in Price’s plan is the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, a program that currently covers millions of low-income Americans. Price’s plan replaces it with, well, nothing.
Most Republican replacement plans are still in the white paper stage, rather than actual legislative language. This means they leave out a lot of key details, like who, for example, would qualify for a high-risk pool or how big tax credits would be. But Price’s plan is detailed. It is 242 pages long and it lays bare exactly how he would repeal Obamacare—a program he is about to be in charge of.
At the helm of HHS he will be in a position to start undercutting all of the provisions of the law he doesn’t like—all the ones that actually provide health care to more people. He will also be in a position to do real damage to the structure of the law without it ever being repealed. He can throw enough spanners into the system to make the system stop working, leaving millions of people high and dry.
That, by the way, will also leave Republicans high and dry. Because they’re the ones who are going to be blamed by all those millions of people when their health insurance either sucks or just plain isn’t there anymore.