President-elect Donald Trump has chosen
Rep. Tom Price, a Republican from Georgia, to helm the Department of
Health and Human Services.
Trump
praised Price, a vocal opponent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA),
as “exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal
and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible health care
to every American.”
Price, 62, has helped draft several
bills in the House to replace the health law. He favors converting
Medicaid into block grants to the states and requiring “able-bodied”
applicants to meet work requirements in exchange for such benefits.
Price, who strongly backed Trump's
campaign, has scored poorly on the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC)
Congressional Scorecard, a measure of a lawmaker's support for LGBT
rights, scoring as low as zero in many sessions.
He has also criticized last year's
Supreme Court finding that gay and lesbian couples have a
constitutional right to marry. Price called the ruling “a sad day
for marriage.”
The Senate must confirm Price's
nomination.