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Obamacare critic Tom Price confirmed as US health secretary. Photo: EFE/JIM LO SCALZO

The Right Wing Doctor: Tom Price confirmed as US Health Secretary.

Obamacare critic Tom Price confirmed as US health secretary. The appointment of the conservative congressman suggests a radical shift in American healthcare…

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The US Senate has confirmed conservative Georgia representative Tom Price as Donald Trump’s health secretary, an appointment that suggests a radical shift in American healthcare over the next four years, reported The Guardian. 

Tom Price - a doctor and surgeon himself- has campaigned relentlessly to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare has helped insure 20 million Americans) and to privatize Medicare, the public health service for the elderly.

Price’s nomination process has also been plagued by allegations of insider trading. It is known for example, that Price purchased up to $15,000 worth of stock in Zimmer Bionet, one of the world’s lead orthopedic device manufacturers, before filing a bill less than one week later that could have aided the medical device market.

Price has always denied any wrongdoing.

It was not only Price’s opposition to the Obamacare that has raised outrage among Democrats and some physicians associations. Price is vehemently anti-abortion, and anti-gay rights. He voted against allowing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. He voted against federal funding for syringe exchange programs, which are proven to reduce HIV infection rates, as reported in The Guardian. 

A Michigan native, Price moved to Atlanta for a medical residency at Emory University and later set up what evolved into a large orthopedic surgery practice in a conservative, affluent community on the city’s north side. He practiced medicine for 20 years before winning a seat in the Georgia state Senate in 1996. By then, he already had become active in fighting for what he saw as good for doctors and the health-care system.

"Tom Price belongs to a doctors group with unorthodox views on government and health care", concludes Amy Goldstein, health policy expert, in the The Washington Post.

 

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