HHS Secretary Dr. Tom Price has stated that the Republicans “believe in the guarantee of Medicare for our seniors.” This new statement has been issued in the backdrop of the ongoing debate between President Donald Trump and the Congressional Republicans regarding the future of the Medicare program.
Recently, President Trump reiterated his stance about not changing the benefits of the Medicare program in an address to the joint session of the Congress. The House Speaker Paul Ryan has also raised questions regarding the future of the Medicare program. However, Dr. Tom Price commented on the matter on the television show “Face the Nation” on CBS.
“I’ll tell you what’s not an open question, is that we believe in the guarantee of Medicare for our seniors,” Dr. Price said. “The challenge that we have, as you well know and your viewers know, is that Medicare is, as some folks have said, going insolvent or going broke… So we believe strongly in the guarantee of Medicare and make certain that it’s a viable, financially secure program going forward so that seniors now and in the future know that it will be there for them.”
In the talks, Dr. Price also mentioned the Republicans’ plan in presenting an alternative to the Affordable Care Act very soon. He stated that, “What we want to make certain is that we’re being true to the principles of health care, which is a system that’s accessible for everybody and affordable for everybody, and of the highest quality. Making sure we incentivize innovation and empowering patients through both transparency and accountability. So that’s the plan we’ve been working on.”
According to Dr. Price, this new plan of bringing a new replacement into the Affordable Care Act by the Republicans is “to make certain that every single American has access to affordable coverage that’s of the highest quality.” He further elaborated that, “the federal government has dictated to individuals what they must buy, what kind of health coverage they must purchase. So what our goal is, what the president’s goal is, is to give people choices, to let them purchase the kind of insurance that they want for themselves and for their family.”
Dr. Price also spoke about the increasing expenses involved in health insurance, which has resulted in its non-affordability among many American citizens. He stated that reducing these high costs involved is one of the primary goals to be addressed, which can be achieved by allowing the states to have flexibility in taking care of the vulnerable sections.