Tom Price Must Go!

Washington, DC -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/29/2017 -- In an open letter (link & below), the Clinician Action Network (CAN) and National Physicians Alliance (NPA) are calling for the immediate resignation of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price. Given HHS's efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act's enrollment and marketing plans, Price's repeated support for legislation that would throw millions of American into the ranks of the uninsured and raise cost for millions more, and the most recent revelation that Price has spent over $400,000 of tax-payer dollars on private jet travel, both CAN and NPA believe it's time for Price to go.

"From the time he was nominated, we had concerns about Dr. Price's support for legislation that ran counter to the best interests of our patients. We were also very concerned with the stock trades he conducted while in the House of Representatives where he likely leveraged his position of influence to profit from trades and insider information. His continued ethically questionable actions, including his egregious and unprecedented misuse of taxpayer monies to travel on private jets, have simply proven our point that Tom Price is not fit for this position" say Drs. Manik Chhabra, co-founder CAN, and Manan Trivedi, President of NPA.

For inquiries, contact Becky Martin becky@npalliance.org or 941-518-7501.

The National Physicians Alliance is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that offers a professional home to physicians across medical specialties. We create research and education programs that promote health and foster active engagement of physicians with their communities. The NPA accepts no funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies.

Learn more at NPAlliance.org.

National Physicians Alliance & Clinician Action Network Say Tom Price Must Go

We've been here before. Almost a year ago, we opposed the nomination of Dr. Tom Price for Secretary of Health and Human Services. As clinicians who put our patients first, today we call for Tom Price to resign.

A year ago, we were concerned that Dr. Price did not have a record of promoting policies that prioritized Americans' health. As a legislator in the House of Representatives, he supported dismantling Medicaid, reducing funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and removing essential health benefits that would provide access to treatment for opioid use disorders, prenatal care, and contraception.

Prior to his confirmation, we learned that Dr. Price had traded stocks that stood to profit from his direct actions in the legislature, raising serious questions around his ethical conduct.

Regrettably, his tenure has only confirmed our fears.

In his confirmation hearings, Secretary Price recalled the lessons he learned as a practicing physician. One lesson he highlighted was that "many patients [he] knew or treated were never more angry and frustrated than when they realized that there was someone other than themselves and/or their physician making medical decisions on their behalf – when there was someone not involved in the actual delivery of care that was standing between them and their doctor or treatment."

However, as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) – that is precisely where Dr. Price has found himself: directly impeding patients' ability to access treatment. Worse, he has shirked his duties in office and wasted taxpayer dollars in the process.

His brazen decision to misspend over $400,0001 by traveling needlessly on private jets is only the most recent offense to come to light. Records indicate that he used public funding to travel to luxury resorts, areas where he owned property, speaking events for friends, and lunch with his son. New reporting2 puts his travel costs at over $1 million in just 8 months; his recent decision to pay back only $52,000 of these costs only highlights his lack of accountability.

Beyond these questionable ethics, Dr. Price has eagerly advocated for legislation that would increase cost of health insurance and reduce access to care. These policies, according to multiple Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates, would create anywhere from 20 to 32 million additional uninsured and were universally opposed by patient groups, doctors, nurses, hospitals, health systems, and insurers.

During this process, he provided at best, misinformation, and at worst, outright lies about the impact of the legislation he was promoting.

Most egregiously, Dr. Price has demonstrated dereliction of his duties at HHS, which has been used as a political tool for sabotage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), rather than as an institution for policy implementation. Under his leadership, HHS has used funding that was earmarked to increase enrollment to run ads against the ACA. The ACA enrollment period has been reduced by 45 days; television advertising and patient navigators have been cut; and access to the health insurance portal has been reduced with unnecessary periods of website shutdown.

The uncertainty he has created over continuing the cost-sharing reduction payments mandated under law has only served to destabilize the insurance markets and increase premiums for patients.

Tom Price should never have been confirmed. His conduct prioritizes self-enrichment, and raises critical questions about his commitment to "improve the lives of the American people, to help heal individuals and whole communities." He has advocated cuts to programs impacting the most vulnerable Americans, while simultaneously wasting taxpayer resources. Now almost one year later, we believe that his actions in office warrant resignation.

It's time for Tom Price to go.

1. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/21/tom-price-private-charter-plane-flights-242989

2. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/28/tom-price-military-jets-europe-asia-hhs-243276

Contact:
Becky Martin, Advocacy Director
National Physicians Alliance
becky@npalliance.org
Cell: 941-518-7051

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Physicians Say No to Devastating Medicaid Cuts, Ending Pre-Existing Condition Protections, and Eliminating Coverage for Millions

Washington, DC -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/26/2017 -- The latest revision of the attempt to strip away many of the healthcare consumer protections passed under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is little changed in substance: it still allows insurers to discriminate based on pre-existing conditions and sell plans that are essentially junk coverage. Tens of millions of people will lose their health insurance coverage, millions more will pay more for less.

This bill still contains devastating cuts to Medicaid and significant tax breaks for wealthy individuals and corporations. Moreover, it does not even come close to adequately addressing the ever-growing opioid crisis that is ravaging thousands of communities across America. It cuts funds from public health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control, important for research and surveillance in keeping our population safe from future threats from diseases like Zika and the problem of antibiotic resistance.

As physicians who see patients every day, we understand what our patients go through firsthand and know that this legislation would devastate millions of people who rely on the access they gained through the Affordable Care Act including its expansion of Medicaid. We have a moral obligation to stand up for these patients and that is why we cannot support this bill.

We urge all Senators to vote NO on this legislation and get to the real work of improving upon the gains that were made under the ACA to achieve high quality, just and affordable healthcare for all.

Statement attributable to: Manan Trivedi, MD, MPP, President, National Physicians Alliance

Dr. Trivedi and other NPA physicians from states around the country are available for comment. Quotes are available below. For inquiries, contact Becky Martin becky@npalliance.org or 941-518-7501.

About The National Physicians Alliance
The National Physicians Alliance is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that offers a professional home to physicians across medical specialties. We create research and education programs that promote health and foster active engagement of physicians with their communities. The NPA accepts no funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies.

Learn more at NPAlliance.org.

Quotes below from NPA physicians around the country available for publication.

To arrange interviews please contact Becky Martin, NPA Advocacy Director, becky@npalliance.org or 941-518-7051.

Trudy Singzon, MD - Family Physician - San Francisco, CA
"As a family physician who was in practice before the Affordable Care Act was in place and then after, I can say with 100% certainty that repealing the ACA will cause unnecessary sickness, suffering, and death. That is not hyperbole; that is fact. I've seen people die due to lack of health care coverage and this reality simply should not exist in this great country of ours. The ACA wasn't perfect but it gave coverage and care to millions, prevented illness, and thus saved lives."

Stephen R. Smith, MD, MPH - Family Physician - New London, CT
Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
"Every day in my clinic I see the benefits my patients enjoy by having health insurance. Many will become uninsured if Graham-Cassidy becomes law. Some will die as a result. American is better than this. We must not turn the clock back."

Jim Rickert, MD – Orthopedic Surgeon – Bloomington, IN
"The Graham-Cassidy Bill will strip needed health insurance from tens of millions of Americans while denying coverage to those among us with pre-existing conditions like heart disease or cancer. For these reasons, among others, we must forcefully oppose its passage."

Mark Lupinetti, Cardiac Surgeon, Bangor, ME
"Graham-Cassidy will hurt my patients with lung cancer. It will hurt my patients with heart disease. It will hurt my patients on Medicare, it will hurt my patients covered by the exchanges, and it will hurt my patients insured at work. Will it not hurt ANY of my patients? Well, maybe I have a billionaire or two in my practice, whose medical costs will be offset by their tax reductions. Otherwise, no."

William B. Jordan, MD, MPH, - Family & Preventive Medicine - New York, NY
"As a doctor, I have seen how Medicaid saves lives. For patients, it means a healthy baby at the end of a pregnancy. It means not having to choose between groceries and diabetes pills. For my family, it meant my grandmother cared for in a nursing home when she lost her memory and my grandfather. We cannot go back to the bad old days when families and lives were torn apart by the struggle to get care."

Gregory Lam, MD - Cardiologist, Circleville, OH
"Let's pursue an thoughtful, bipartisan approach to fixing healthcare. Although the ACA has its problems, it's been a lifesaver for the poor and elderly patients I serve in rural Ohio. Dismantling it as the Graham-Cassidy bill proposes will take away healthcare from tens of millions of people. Instead, let's work together to find sensible solutions that will help the sick, not hurt them."

Cheryl Bettigole, MD - Family Physician - Philadelphia, PA
"I feel sick at the thought of the cliff the Senate vote is moving us toward. Like many physicians who have worked in the country's safety net, I remember too well the faces and voices of my patients who faced life threatening and life altering diagnoses in the days before the ACA. We cannot go back."

Peter Capell, MD, Endocrinologist – Seattle, WA
"I do have some availability to meet with press. My statement: As a treating physician, countless of my patients celebrated meeting their qualification to enroll in Medicare. This is government run, thousands of miles from some enrollees home and operated with an efficiency and public benefit unmatched by any private insurer. If the private insurance industry refuses to help without demanding one's fortune, then allow our established insurer to step forward."

David Evans, MD - Family Physician – Seattle, WA
"Every day I see patients who benefit from the provisions in the ACA - Medicaid expansion, no pre-existing conditions and free preventive care save lives. Graham Cassidy will result in 800,000 Washingtonians, from all corners of the state, going uninsured. We need to move forward on healthcare, not backwards."

Contact:
Becky Martin, Advocacy Director
National Physicians Alliance
becky@npalliance.org
Cell: 941-518-7051

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Washington, DC -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/26/2017 -- "By now stripping away many of the healthcare consumer protections passed under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), allowing insurers to discriminate based on pre-existing conditions and selling plans that are essentially junk coverage, Majority Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans took an already very harmful bill and made it even worse.

This bill still contains devastating cuts to Medicaid, significant tax breaks for wealthy individuals and corporations, and higher premiums that will fall mainly on those who are elderly or poor. Moreover, it does not even come close to addressing the ever-growing opioid crisis that is ravaging thousands of communities across America.

As providers who see patients every day, we understand what our patients go through firsthand and know that this legislation would devastate millions of people who rely on the access they gained through the Affordable Care Act including its expansion of Medicaid. We have a moral obligation to stand up for these patients and that is why we cannot support this bill.

We urge all Senators to vote NO on this legislation and get to the real work of improving upon the gains that were made under the ACA to achieve high quality, just and affordable healthcare for all."

Statement attributable to: Manan Trivedi, MD, MPP, President, National Physicians Alliance

Dr. Manan Trivedi and other NPA physicians from states around the country are available for comment. Quotes are available on the following pages. For inquiries, contact Becky Martin becky@npalliance.org or 941-518-7501.

The National Physicians Alliance is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that offers a professional home to physicians across medical specialties. We create research and education programs that promote health and foster active engagement of physicians with their communities. The NPA accepts no funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies.

Learn more at http://NPAlliance.org/.

Quotes below from NPA physicians around the country available for publication.

To arrange interviews please contact Becky Martin, NPA Advocacy Director, becky@npalliance org or 941-518-7051.

Devery Mitchell, MD - Family Medicine - Anchorage, Alaska
"As a family physician in Anchorage, I care for generations of vulnerable individuals--grandparents needing elder care, parents worrying about being able to afford insurance premiums, and children who receive vital services so they can grow and thrive. The threat posed to my patients by the Senate's reckless and partisan attempt to repeal the ACA--possibly without even enacting a sensible replacement--is staggering. This is not a game. People's lives are being thrown around like political poker chips and the stakes are way too high. I am terrified of what this will mean for my patients."

Paul Robinson, MD, PhD - Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine - Tarpon Springs, Florida
"The worst case of infected hands I have seen belonged to a man who prepared food at a restaurant near my trauma center. He had numerous cuts on his hands which had become purulent as he attempted treatment with ointments. This occurred before passage of the Affordable Care Act. He had no health insurance and felt he could not afford to seek care from a clinic or emergency department. His employer finally sent him to us; we were able to cure the infections and he was able to return to his job. A disproportionate number of food service workers, in the US, obtained health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Their health can affect the rest of the population. Think about that the next time you eat in your favorite restaurant."

Trudy Singzon, MD - Familiy Physician - San Francisco, CA
"As a family physician who was in practice before the Affordable Care Act was in place and then after, I can say with 100% certainty that repealing the ACA will cause unnecessary sickness, suffering, and death. That is not hyperbole; that is fact. I've seen people die due to lack of health care coverage and this reality simply should not exist in this great country of ours. The ACA wasn't perfect but it gave coverage and thus care to millions and thus prevented illness and saved lives."

Stephen R. Smith, MD, MPH - Family Physician - New London, CT
Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
"Every day in my clinic I see the benefits my patients enjoy by having health insurance. Many will become uninsured if the Republican plans become law. Some will die as a result. American is better than this. We must not turn the clock back."

James Rickert, MD - Orthopedic Surgery - Bloomington, IN
"The Senate repeal bill tells my patients, and, indeed, all Americans with pre-existing conditions like heart disease or cancer that our nation has no place for them and will offer them no aid or comfort. For that reason alone, we must vigorously oppose it."

Mark Lupinetti, Cardiac Surgeon, Bangor, ME
"If the Congress strips coverage from 30 million people or 20 million or even 15 million, it will mean that my patients will have worse outcomes, their care will cost more, and more of them will die."

Bethany Picker, MD – Family Medicine – Lewiston, ME
"As a family doctor in Maine, I care for the working poor and those on the margins of society: refugees, the disabled, the addicted. Repealing the ACA will take people already working so hard and make them feel tossed aside by those with power?—?no care, no help, no hope."

Susan Molchan, MD - Psychiatrist and Nuclear Medicine Physician - Bethesda, MD
"The more people that put off going to the doctor because they can't afford it, the more will end up in emergency rooms and with chronic diseases that will cost much more in the long run."

Anthony Accurso, MD - Primary Care and Addiction Medicine - Brooklyn, NY
"As a primary care doctor who treats patients with opioid use disorder, I have seen the life-saving effects of drug treatment. The ACA is the mechanism through which many patients in my practice have been able to be seen in clinic and obtain buprenorphine, thereby restoring stability to their lives. Taking away the insurance that allows them to continue treatment would be a cruel and dangerous occurrence. We Americans can do better than that for each other

William B. Jordan, MD, MPH, - Family & Preventive Medicine - New York, NY
"As a doctor, I have seen how Medicaid saves lives. For patients, it means a healthy baby at the end of a pregnancy. It means not having to choose between groceries and diabetes pills. For my family, it meant my grandmother cared for in a nursing home when she lost her memory and my grandfather. We cannot go back to the bad old days when families and lives were torn apart by the struggle to get care."

Cameron Page, MD - Internal Medicine - Rural NY & NYC
"As a doctor who works at hospitals in both rural and urban areas, I've seen the many ways that this legislation would hurt patients. From home care for disabled kids, to nursing home care for seniors, to treatment programs for opiate addiction, the Senate bill would make the lives of many Americans far worse. Some may claim it is overly dramatic to say this bill will kill people, but I've looked into the faces of these patients, and I can testify that it is true."

Gregory Lam, MD - Cardiologist, Circleville, OH
"Far from being a nightmare, the ACA has been a lifeline for many of my patients in rural Ohio. Repealing it would hurt the sick, the elderly and the poor, and would dramatically weaken our communities across America. Rather than repealing it, Democrats and Republicans should work together to improve our system of care and improve the health of our country."

Cheryl Bettigole, MD - Family Physician - Philadelphia, PA
I feel sick at the thought of the cliff the Senate vote is moving us toward. Like many physicians who have worked in the country's safety net, I remember too well the faces and voices of my patients who faced life threatening diagnoses and life altering in the days before the ACA. We cannot go back.

Manik Chhabra, MD - Internal Medicine - Philadelphia, PA
As a primary care physician, Medicaid expansion through the ACA has provided a lifeline to my most vulnerable patients. Many of the patients I serve are undergoing treatment for opioid use disorder, and are dependent on the insurance coverage they have to continue to receive services. Any effort to make insurance coverage less available, any cuts to Medicaid, will keep hundreds of thousands of American from receiving lifesaving treatment for substance use disorder. This means more needless emergency room visits, more hospitalizations, more babies born addicted to the opiates their mothers used during pregnancy. I urge you to vote against any legislation that would endanger my patients.

Reena Koshy MD MPH - Family Physician - Seattle WA
"Today in the Senate we saw desperate individuals- pressured by bullies and afraid of losing power- willing to bargain away health care for millions of Americans. Health care is a big problem and needs many different solutions. It was not a problem that Obama created, it is not a problem that one party can fix, we all own it. We all have to fix it. Healthcare has to work for both rural and urban, young and old, rich and poor populations. This is going to be a disaster if the Senate continues this course."

Jeff Huebner, MD - Family Physician - Madison, WI
As a family physician in practice for 12 years, I take care of patients of all ages, from all insurance backgrounds, and I have seen the positive impact that the Affordable Care Act has had on the community where I work. Before the ACA, I regularly had patients who had to delay or avoid care that they could not afford, and of course, many others simply never came or had a doctor. Still others could not afford their medicines for diabetes or asthma. I'll always remember my uninsured patient who came to see me too late for us to help stabilize his congestive heart disease. We all need the security that health insurance provides, so that we have the opportunity to play, learn, work, and care for our families. I will continue to fight with my physician and health professional colleagues and stand up for our patients, so that everyone in America has access to health care. Jeff Huebner, MD, Family Physician, Madison, WI, Board Chair, National Physicians Alliance

Contact:
Becky Martin, Advocacy Director
National Physicians Alliance
becky@npalliance.org
Cell: 941-518-7051

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm