“You might want to print out President-elect Trump’s statement, ‘I am not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,’ and post that above your desk.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) blasted Donald Trump’s nominee to become Secretary of Health and Human Services over his desire to drastically cut essential services, including Medicare and Medicaid. Warren reminded Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) that Donald Trump himself promised he would not cut those core safety net programs.
After informing Rep. Price “more than 100 million Americans now receive their healthcare through Medicare and Medicaid,” Sen. Warren reminded Rep. Price the budget he authored as chair of the House budget committee would have cut spending on Medicaid by $449 billion over the next decade, and would have cut Medicare by more than $1 trillion.
Price’s response?
The “metrics” used to determine success of these programs should not be dollars.
That prompted a heated exchange, with Senator Warren slamming a combative Price, then reminded Rep. Price that “President-elect Trump was very clear about his views on Medicare and Medicaid.”
“Can you guarantee to this committee that you will safeguard President-elect Trump’s promise and while you are HHS Secretary you will not use your authority to carry out a single dollar of cuts to Medicare or Medicaid eligibility or benefits?” Warren asked.
“What the question presumes is that money is the metric,” Price responded. “In my belief from a scientific standpoint, if patients aren’t receiving care even though we’re providing the resources, it doesn’t work for patients.”
Warren was not buying what Price was selling.
“We’re very limited on time,” she reminded the nominee. “The metric is money. And the quote from the President-elect of the United States was not along this to cut dollars from this program. So that’s the question I’m asking you. Can you assure this committee you will not cut one dollar from Medicare or Medicaid should you be confirmed to this position?”
“I believe that the metric ought to be the care that the patients are receiving,” Price insisted.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Warren retorted.
Sen. Warren concluded with this pronouncement chastising Price:
“Frankly the millions of Americans who rely on Medicare and Medicaid today are not going to be very reassured by your notion that you have a metric other than the dollars that they need to provide these services. You might want to print out President-elect Trump’s statement, ‘I am not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,’ and post that above your desk in your new office because Americans will be watching to see if you follow through on that it promise.”
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