Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) faced the Senate Health and Education Committee on Wednesday as President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Price, an avowed enemy of the Affordable Care Act, said that Republicans are not "interested in pulling the rug out from anybody," and promised insurance for "every single American" during his confirmation hearing Wednesday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who made the idea of health care as a "right" a central idea of his presidential campaign and has pushed a federally run single-payer system, was unimpressed with Price's promises and grilled the representative during his questions Wednesday. "Do you believe that health care is a right of all Americans whether they're rich or they're poor?" Sanders asked. "Should people, because they are Americans, be able to go to the doctor when they need to?"
Price began his response by saying that America is a "compassionate society" — to which Sanders immediately objected. Watch the fiery exchange below. Kimberly Alters
The Week
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