Key Vote YES on the Nomination of Rep. Tom Price to Serve as HHS Secretary

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to vote YES on the nomination of Rep. Tom Price, M.D. (R-Ga.) to serve as President Donald Trump’s secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

An orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Price, who has a lifetime 89 percent score with FreedomWorks, would bring a unique perspective to the Department of Health and Human Services that is desperately needed at a time when America’s health care system is facing significant challenges. Moreover, he has served honorably in both the Georgia General Assembly, where he became the first Republican majority leader in state history, and the U.S. House of Representatives, where he currently chairs the important Budget Committee.

The Department of Health and Human Services was one of the federal agencies primarily responsible for the implementation of ObamaCare. HHS promulgated or approved rules developed by agencies it oversees, including rules that led to millions of health insurance policy cancellations and so-called “essential benefits” that have increased the cost of health insurance premiums for Americans.

In 2009, when the debate over ObamaCare began in Congress, Dr. Price introduced the Empowering Patients First Act, a comprehensive, patient-centered alternative. He has introduced this bill in every Congress since.

The Empowering Patients First Act offered several policy ideas FreedomWorks supports, including the expansion of health savings accounts (HSAs), high-risk pools for patients with pre-existing conditions, and portability for health insurance coverage. A fiscal analysis of a previous iteration of Dr. Price’s bill found that it would lower premiums by 6 percent and save taxpayers more than $1.7 trillion over ten years.

While the details of an ObamaCare replacement supported by the House and Senate Republican conferences are yet to be developed and introduced in legislative text, Dr. Price is the ideal individual to lead this effort in the Trump administration. For these reasons, we urge you to contact your senators and ask them to vote YES on the nomination of Rep. Tom Price, M.D. to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

FreedomWorks will count the floor vote on this nomination and reserves the right to score any related votes when calculating our Scorecard for 2017. The scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of the House and Senate who consistently vote to support economic freedom and individual liberty.

Sincerely,

Adam Brandon, President and CEO, FreedomWorks