Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) attempted to pin down Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, on how Republicans would measure success in their effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Price first pointed to “cost,” “access” and the “choices” for individuals, before saying “absolutely” that policymakers should try to increase the number of people on insurance.
“So from where we are today, if you look at the things that many of us believe have been harmed by the Affordable Care Act, I hope that we’re able to turn that around and decrease the out-of-pocket cost for individuals, increase choices for individuals, increase access to the doctors and providers that the patients want, as opposed to what’s happened over the past few years,” Price said at his hearing Wednesday in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
“Increase the number of people who have insurance?” Murphy followed up.
“Absolutely,” Price said. “As I mentioned over here — we still have 20 million individuals without coverage. I think as policy makers, it is incumbent upon us to say, what can we do to increase that coverage?”