Sen. Wyden Issues Statement at Hearing on Nomination of Azar to Be HHS Secretary
"The same
"It's my view that the issues he'll work on, if confirmed, will be defining domestic issues in 2018. That's because Americans heard a lot of promises two years ago about how great their health care would be under Trump, and how the era of skyrocketing drug prices was over. Americans are going to want to know, come November, if the big guarantees they heard in 2016 ever came to fruition. To say this administration hasn't yet delivered would be a wild understatement.
"
"Let's look at the track record. The price of Lilly's bone-growth drug Forteo, used to treat osteoporosis, more than doubled on
"
"This morning the committee will likely hear that this is just the way things work -- it's the system that's to be blamed. My view is, there's a lot of validity in that. The system is broken.
"Given ample opportunity to provide concrete examples as a nominee of how he'd fix it,
"And if
"A virtual parade of Trump health care officials have come before this committee and the Health Committee and promised they'd uphold the law with respect to the Affordable Care Act. Right out of the gate, it was
"The track record there looks miserable, too, because the sabotage agenda went into effect on day one. Along with their allies in
"They made it easier to sell junk insurance that fails people when they have a health emergency. All in all, the Trump administration has made millions of people's health care worse, and they've got no serious plan to undo the damage.
"
"There's also been a lot of talk about "welfare reform" in 2018.
"With respect to Medicaid, this program is at the heart of health care in America, and it spans generations, from newborn infants to two out of three seniors in nursing homes. Today, Medicaid is built on a guarantee. The Trump team wants to end it. They've set in motion plans that would make it harder for a lot of people to get the care they need. In some cases it's older Americans and people with disabilities who need long-term care. In other cases it's adults of limited means -- people who struggle to climb the economic ladder. As the one-time director of the Oregon Gray Panthers, I came up as an advocate for seniors, and any policy that risks nursing home care they need is a non-starter. And furthermore, my view is, you can't get ahead in life if you don't have your health, so endangering the health care of low-income Americans is the absolute wrong way to go.
"Some of the other issues that might fall under this "welfare reform" umbrella are on the human services side of HHS' jurisdiction -- issues
"One final point -- the leaders of both sides of this committee previously had regular meetings and calls with sitting HHS Secretaries,
Sen. Merkley Issues Statement on Children’s Health Insurance Program
Sen. McConnell: Significant Benefits of Tax Reform Already Being Seen Across Country
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News