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SANDY — U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price talked with state business leaders Monday morning during a stop in Utah, making his pitch for the health care reform bill currently pending in the Senate.
Price also took questions from multiple business leaders dissatisfied with current health care laws in the United States during a roundtable discussion inside Colonial Flag, 9390 S. 300 West.
Kathy Smith, an organizer with Utah's Freedom Conference and wife of late Smith & Edwards founder Bert Smith, said the company will be hiring mostly part-time employees when it builds a store at a new location.
"The cost to them has risen so much," Smith said.
Price criticized the Affordable Care Act, saying "choices are down" for buyers on the individual and small group markets, and that both premiums and deductibles have risen. He cited the failure of the Arches Health Plan in Utah as an example of decreased choice for consumers.
“Utah’s story is like the rest of the country,” Price said.
Other leaders at the roundtable included Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock.com; Salt Lake Chamber President and CEO Lane Beattie; and state Sen. Brian Shiozawa, R-Cottonwood Heights.
"Utah's story is like the rest of the country" says Secretary Price. "The good news is there is a better plan." pic.twitter.com/B0CRh1LYx0
— Mary Richards (@kslmrichards) June 26, 2017
Price also met shortly afterward with selected employees of Colonial Flag and other small businesses nearby in a question and answer session. There, he praised President Donald Trump, saying he wants to see health care reform that gives power to states to be the ones making decisions with regard to the Medicaid program.
“He's been an incredible leader on this to try to make certain (that) states have flexibility,” Price said. “You don't want a system that works best for Florida. You want a system that works best for Utah.”
Price, a former orthopaedic surgeon who represented Georgia as a Republican member of Congress before being appointed by Trump earlier this year, said he is encouraged by the text of the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act. Unveiled last week, the bill is a revised form of the American Health Care Act that was passed by that body on May 3.
“The bill itself that is now before the Senate we believe is a step in the right direction," Price said, noting that the bill offers "greater flexibility" and "more choice.”
He also defended the bill’s reduction in Medicaid spending by roughly $800 billion through 2026 as compared with expected levels under current law.
“Only in Washington is increasing spending, but not to as much as you thought you were going to spend, (called) a cut,” Price said.
In anticipation of Price’s visit, Utah Health Policy Project Executive Director Matt Slonaker released a statement saying the Better Care Reconciliation Act would led to Utahns “pay(ing) higher out-of-pocket costs for less coverage and fewer benefits, especially those who are older, poorer and sicker or experience a significant medical event.”
About 15 to 20 protestors also stood outside the Colonial Flag property and chanted, "No cuts to Medicaid.” One member of the group, Psarah Johnson, entered the business to ask whether she could attend the question and answer session. She was told it was a private event.
“I don’t think it was a representative group” at that question and answer session, Johnson said.
