Price refuses to promise no one will lose coverage under Trump’s Obamacare order Trump’s pick to run Health and Human Services dodged a series of pressing questions from Democrats at his confirmation hearing.

Rep. Tom Price refused to say how aggressively he'll implement President Donald Trump's order instructing federal agencies to pare back Obamacare — and he refused to promise that Obamacare enrollees wouldn't lose coverage as a result of the order.

Price, Trump's pick to run HHS, dodged questions from lawmakers Tuesday about whether Trump's order would force people from their current Obamacare coverage, despite promises from many Republicans they want to ensure the 20 million people insured through the law wouldn't be hurt by efforts to replace it.


He also wouldn't say whether HHS would wait until Congress readies a replacement plan before taking steps to dismantle the health care law. Price told the Senate Finance Committee, which will vote on his nomination, that he would promise to put “patients at the center of health care,” declining to tackle the questions directly.

Trump’s executive order instructing federal agencies to do everything in their power to undermine Obamacare has prompted concerns that his administration could move too quickly to strike down major parts of the law unilaterally, causing chaos in the insurance markets before Congress agrees on a replacement. Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway this weekend suggested that Trump could weaken or nix Obmacare's individual mandate, a central piece of the law.

"Independent experts say that this is going to destroy the market on which millions of working families buy health coverage," said Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee. "And on the questions that I asked, will the congressman commit that nobody will be worse off, nobody will lose coverage, we didn't get an answer."

Price said he couldn't make any commitment to how he'll wield Trump's executive order until he's in place at HHS. His "first action" as HHS secretary would be studying how the order applies to the department, he said.

Here are the key moments from Tuesday’s hearing:

Democrats push Price on investments: Democrats, who aggressively questioned Price on whether he wrote legislation to boost his investments, have urged Republicans to slow down the nomination process and join their calls for an investigation into whether the six-term congressman broke any ethical guidelines or laws.

The latest hits to Price’s nomination came just hours before the Finance Committee hearing. A committee memo revealed that Price originally had significantly undervalued his stake in an Australian biotech firm — an investment that Democratic leaders already contended warrants an SEC investigation. And the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday another instance in which Price wrote legislation that would have benefited companies he had invested in.

But after attacking Price's investments early in the hearing, Democrats quickly switched gears to focus on Price's health care policies.

Republicans defend Price: Republicans tried to deflect Democratic attacks on Price’s health care investments as a partisan attack on Trump. Chairman Orrin Hatch, who defended the Georgia Republican, said the committee has already spent twice as long vetting Price as it did President Barack Obama’s two HHS secretaries. He chastised Senate Democrats for their opposition, claiming they’re pumping up nonexistent ethical concerns to stonewall Trump’s nominees.

“I have never seen a party in the Senate — from its leaders on down — publicly commit to not only opposing virtually every nomination, but to attacking and maligning virtually every single nominee," Hatch said.

Pre-existing conditions: Price said that he will ensure that people with pre-existing conditions have coverage under the GOP plan. “I commit to you that we will not abandon individuals with pre-existing illness or disease,” he said, disputing a 2012 POLITICO story in which he criticized Obamacare requirements that insurers must cover people with pre-existing conditions.

In 2012, he was skeptical of the Obamacare policy that required insurers to accept everyone regardless of their medical condition. Obamacare rates are based on age, but not on health status, so sick people are not charged more. “It’s a terrible idea,” Price told a POLITICO reporter about “guaranteed issue” in 2012.

At the time, Price elaborated further, according to quotes preserved by a POLITICO reporter. Price said: “In the Democrats’ minds, it’s necessary because they want to dictate the specific health coverage that every single American must have. If you step back and recognize that what we need to do is provide the kind of health coverage that patients want — not what the government wants for them — then the solution is to provide an opportunity for every single American to have the financial wherewithal to be able to purchase the coverage they want, not what the government wants for them.”

At Tuesday’s hearing, Price said that “nobody should be priced out of the market for having a bad diagnosis.”

Does Trump have a replacement plan? Price refused to say whether Trump lied when he said earlier this month that the administration’s Obamacare replacement plan was nearly finished. “I trust that he said that, yes,” Price said in response to a question from Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

When pressed by Brown about whether that statement was a lie, Price continued to dodge the question. “I’ve had conversations with the president about health care,” Price said.

But Brown wasn't satisfied with the answer. “I’m still not sure if the president lied,” he said. “It sounds like he did.

Price backs vaccines: Price, an orthopedic surgeon, told the committee that he accepts the scientific consensus that vaccines do not cause autism. But he seemed to be starting to acknowledge that some people have concerns about vaccines before Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) cut off his answer.

It’s a particularly pressing question right now, given Trump’s sympathy to the widely discredited link between autism and vaccines. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaxer, said that Trump has asked him to lead a commission on vaccine safety, but Trump’s team has said it hasn’t made any commitment.

Price also tiptoed around a direct question on whether families should follow the recommended vaccine schedule.

"I think that science and health care has identified a very important aspect of public health, and that is the role of vaccination," Price said.

Jason Millman and Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.