Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Tuesday that the Trump administration’s “goal” is to ensure that Americans can keep their current physicians after Obamacare is repealed, stopping short of repeating the infamous, untrue promise made by former President Barack Obama in 2013.
“We think it’s incredibly important for the American people to be able to select the physician and the place where they’re treated themselves — that the government ought not be involved in that process,” Price told reporters at the White House. “So our goal is, absolutely, to make sure that individuals will have the opportunity to select their physician,” he added.
Trump administration won't guarantee Americans can keep their doctors under Obamacare replacement https://t.co/z8EmowBSda pic.twitter.com/E8ZKSrlQ4i— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 7, 2017
Price said the healthcare replacement bill introduced by House Republicans on Monday goes in “a different direction” by encouraging competition and “equalizing the tax treatment” of Americans seeking to purchase health insurance. The American Healthcare Act includes refundable tax credits to help people defray the cost of insurance instead of the subsidies used in the Affordable Care Act.
“The tax credit is the opportunity to be able to equalize that tax treatment,” he said of the proposal, which would replace federally funded healthcare subsidies with a tax credit.
The HHS secretary said legislation put forward by congressional Republicans this week, and subsequent bills that will be released under “phases two and three” of the Obamacare repeal and replace effort, will put patients first, expand access to healthcare, encourage innovation in the healthcare industry and ensure insurance is affordable.
Those the “guiding principles” of the administration’s efforts on healthcare reform, Price said.
