WASHINGTON, D.C.—Shortly after noon on Tuesday, Bernie Sanders came out of his meeting with Congressman Tom Price, the nominee to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Price was coming off a terrible weekend. As the BBC notes, Price seemed to have found several schemes to monetize his time in Congress with some sharp investment strategies—which undoubtedly recommended him to his future boss, but has gotten all up in the grill of those spoilsports who run various government ethics offices.

According to congressional records cited by CNN, Dr Price purchased up to $15,000 (£12,000) worth of stock in Zimmer Biomet in March 2016. Less than a week later he introduced legislation that would have delayed the creation of a new regulation that would have affected the medical device manufacturer.

Naturally, if he is confirmed, Price will play a central role in concocting whatever pot of gruel the Republican congressional majorities put forward to replace the Affordable Care Act, which is what Sanders wanted to talk to him about. The news was not good for Price's position.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office put out a hair-raising report concerning the consequences of repealing the ACA without replacing it instantly with the president-elect's Magic Golden Pony plan. Via The New York Times:

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that repealing major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, while leaving other parts in place, would cost 18 million people their insurance in the first year and could increase the number of uninsured Americans by 32 million in 10 years, while causing insurance premiums to double over that time. The budget office analyzed the probable effects of a Republican repeal bill like the one approved in Congress but vetoed early last year by President Obama.

Eighteen million people rendered SOL in the first year and 32 million over the next decade. The amount of human misery contained in those numbers is almost unimaginable.

The bill that the budget office analyzed would have eliminated tax penalties for people who go without insurance. It would also have eliminated spending for the expansion of Medicaid and subsidies that help lower-income people buy private insurance. But the bill preserved requirements for insurers to provide coverage, at standard rates, to any applicant, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. "Eliminating the mandate penalties and the subsidies while retaining the market reforms would destabilize the nongroup market, and the effect would worsen over time," the budget office said.

Yeah, Price's luck in the market seems to be worth looking into at length, but the finances that are most mortal about his nomination are out there in millions of parlors and kitchens, where people have no idea what's coming next in their lives, and where they look toward a government in which everybody has a plan, but nobody has the faintest idea.

Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io