Rep. Tom Price, Donald Trump's pick as health and human services secretary, presented a healthcare plan in 2015 that would not afford universal healthcare to Americans, a proposal at odds with Trump's plan to have "insurance for everybody."
The differing proposals have made it difficult for GOP members to move ahead with repealing Obamacare without a precise replacement, Politico reported.
Trump told The Washington Post on Saturday his plan would have "lower numbers, much lower deductibles" and it was "formulated down to the final strokes," noting he was simply waiting for Price to be confirmed, which has not happened yet.
Price's plan, titled "Empowering Patients First Act," provides for a refundable tax credit for consumers who purchase health insurance coverage, no denial of coverage by insurance companies, and the expanding of Health Savings Accounts. But it was introduced nearly two years ago, Sen. Bob Corker noted.
"I don't know what his bill said two years ago," said Corker, a Republican from Tennessee. "My guess is that Tom Price as head of HHS will approach things vastly different than Tom Price who was introducing legislation that was never going to become law, OK?"
Price "had a bill. A lot of our guys had bills. There will probably be elements of all of them in the final product," Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, told Politico. "But how it all gets synthesized is the question."
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, said he was encouraged everything was headed in the same direction.
"Dr. Price was a leader of our better way agenda on healthcare and helped shape . . . much of what the House proposal is," Brady said.
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