Tom Price will stress at his confirmation hearing for health and human services secretary that the U.S. healthcare system has lost focus on the individual patient.
The lawmaker and former orthopedic surgeon could play a key role in the Trump administration’s effort to replace Obamacare.
Price is set to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday for a courtesy confirmation hearing.
His stock dealings while a House lawmaker have come under scrutiny and ignited attacks from Democrats, several of which on the panel called for the hearing to be postponed until an investigation is wrapped up.
A copy of Price’s opening statement goes into his history and philosophy surrounding the healthcare system. Price is known for introducing legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, a long-sought goal of Republicans.
Price will say in his planned remarks that while he has served as a physician he has seen there were “more individuals within our office who were dealing with paperwork, insurance filings, and government regulations than there were individuals actually seeing and treating patients.”
He will say that we all want a “health care system that’s affordable, that’s accessible to all, of the highest quality, with the greatest number of choices.”
In a nod to deep divisions among healthcare with Democrats, Price plans to emphasize a “common commitment to public service and compassion for those we serve.”
The GOP and Democrats have clashed in recent weeks over the GOP’s efforts to repeal the healthcare law.
The statement doesn’t highlight attacks from Democrats on Price’s stock trades, which the Trump transition team has tried to push back on.
The team called for CNN to retract reporting on Price’s purchases of between $1,000 to $15,000 in stocks in the medical device maker Zimmer Biomet. After purchasing the stocks, Price introduced legislation to delay a regulation that would have impacted the medical device maker.
The team noted that Price wasn’t behind the Zimmer stock purchases, but instead a broker was directing the account. The broker purchased on March 17, 2016, 26 shares of Zimmer at roughly $2,600 on behalf of price.
Price learned of the purchase in April and he disclosed it on his House disclosure forms, the transition team said Tuesday.
