Price defends tax cut in GOP ObamaCare repeal plan for health insurance executives

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is defending a tax cut for health insurance executives outlined in the GOP’s plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

During a town hall late Wednesday hosted by CNN’s Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, Bash asked Price why healthcare CEOs should be getting a tax cut.

At first saying he would “take a peek” at the part of the American Health Care Act legislation that includes the cut, Price defended the Republicans’ current plan, calling the ObamaCare tax rule that would be rolled back a punishment on healthcare executives.

{mosads}Bash clarified that the rule was a $500,000 limit on tax deductions for health insurance CEOs.

“That limitation in your bill goes away and it effectively means a tax cut for these people,” Bash said.

“This is the federal government before saying to a certain sector of society, a certain individual, you can’t make what that company is willing to pay you for your services,” Price responded.

“That doesn’t sound like America to me.”

Price called the ObamaCare tax rule “dangerous”” for singling out “individuals in a certain sector of society.”

“What we’re saying is we ought not to single out certain individuals in this nation and have the federal government have the power to say ‘You’re going to be treated differently from that individual, even though you make the same amount of money.’ “

Josh Brown, a financial writer and the CEO of New York-based Ritholtz Wealth Management, shared the clip from Price’s CNN town hall on Twitter, pointing to the compensation made by the top insurance executives in 2015.

2015 compensation:

Aetna CEO $17.3 million
Cigna CEO $17.3 million
UnitedHealth CEO $14.5 million ($66 million prior year)

Never enough. https://t.co/2yeqD0wu0U

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) March 16, 2017