ICYMI: Senator Hassan Presses Congressman Price on Harmful Impact of Repealing the ACA on Efforts to Combat Substance Abuse Crisis
WASHINGTON - Yesterday, Senator Maggie Hassan questioned Congressman Tom Price, President-elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, pressing Rep. Price on the harmful impact repealing the Affordable Care Act would have on Granite Staters who need substance abuse treatment and behavioral health services.
Under questioning from Senator Hassan, Rep. Price would not guarantee that Americans with substance use disorders who have gotten insurance through Medicaid expansion would still be covered for these services if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, nor would he commit to continuing the requirement under the Affordable Care Act that health insurance companies must cover essential health benefits, including treatment for substance abuse.
See below for coverage highlights:
"On Capitol Hill today, Senator Maggie Hassan had tough questions for Donald Trump's HHS nominee over his strategy to handle the opioid addiction crisis. At the confirmation hearing for Congressman Tom Price, Hassan asked how recovering addicts would be covered if the Affordable Care Act were to be repealed."
Newsweek: Tom Price's Hearing Previews Obamacare Replacement Fight
Health secretary nominee Tom Price's showdown with Senate Democrats on Wednesday offered a preview of the fierce philosophical battle about to be waged over the future of Obamacare and the role government should play in the nation's health care system.
... The core of the debate concerns how many Americans can and should be covered-one of the thorniest questions Republicans are wrestling with as they try to craft a replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Democrats made clear at Price's first (of two) confirmation hearing that they will measure any plan by its ability to provide insurance coverage to all Americans.
...Other factors will determine just how extensive Americans' coverage is, Democrats pointed out in the hearing. Noting how her state has been ravaged by the opioid epidemic, New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan asked Price if he supported ending the Obamacare provision that requires private insurers to cover substance abuse treatment, among other so-called essential benefits the law requires. Price previously introduced bills in the House that would eliminate those benefits requirements. "Do you think that's still a good thing?" Hassan asked.
Price didn't reply directly, instead saying, "I think that what's a good thing is to...make certain that we're providing the kinds of options and choices for patients so that they can address their clinical and medical needs." Hassan, however, noted that before the 2010 law, insurers didn't provide such coverage. "If insurance companies never offer it, they don't have the option" of something like treatment for opioid addiction, she said. Price said he looked forward to working with her "to make certain that those things are covered."
It was just one example of the many minefields Republicans face as they seek to live up to their promises: creating a more cost-effective, less-regulated alternative to Obamacare without letting people fall through the proverbial cracks.
USAToday: Price, HHS Nominee, Says Trump Doesn't Want to 'Pull the Rug Out on Anyone'
Senators Susan Collins, R-Maine,and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., stressed the importance of continued access to addiction treatment as the opioid epidemic spreads acrossthe country, including parts ofNortheast thatthey represent.
New York Times: Choice for Health Secretary is Vague on Replacing Affordable Care Act
Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said there was no guarantee that such protections would continue in the absence of federal requirements. Insurance companies did not routinely coverdrug abusetreatment in the past and might not do so in the future without a requirement, she said.
Slate: Tom Price Will Have a Lot More Power Than He Wants You to Think
It was late into the first of Price's two confirmation hearings-the Senate Finance Committee will also hold a Price hearing next week-that Hassan, a new senator, brought up a central regulation of the Affordable Care Act: the requirement that plans sold on insurance exchanges cover10 so-called "essential benefits."Hassan was focusing on one particular benefit, coverage for mental health services and substance-abuse treatment. She argued that many insurance companies weren't covering these until they were required to by law. Did Price believe that it was a "good thing" for this benefit to be required by law?
Price, as he often did during the hearing, first stated his boilerplate belief that health care policy should allow patients to choose plans with the benefits that suit their needs. Hassan reiterated her point that insurance plans in certain markets may not even offer the benefit if not required by law, so it would not be among the many choices available to patients in this vast buffet of choice that Republican health care reformers swear they're going to establish.
After several rounds of this, Price reverted to what, to me, was the most consistently detached of his fallback responses: that he's just an "administrator," and that all the choices about health care policy in this country will be made by his interrogators on the HELP Committee and in Congress more generally.
... As Republicans have enjoyed pointing out for the past seven years, the text of the act handed a lot of authority tothe secretary of Health and Human Services to write the rules designed to reach a certain goal set in the legislation. Consider, to Hassan's point, the essential benefits. The law itself created the category of essential benefits requiring no-limit coverage, and then gave the secretary authority to flesh out what, specifically, acceptable coverage would include. The HHS rules that have gotten the most attention over the years are those governing coverage for birth control. Price'sopinionon that will no longer just be his opinion. It will be the opinion of the U.S. government.
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