An additional wave of arrests, and an Antidefamation League offices. Some reports have been over 100 bomb threats going into jewish institutions since the start of this year alone. As the president said the beginning of the joint address, where countries are united in condemning evil in all its forms. We can now be the latest antisomatic and hatred in its strongest terms and its incredibly saddening that i have to share these disturbing reports with you and i share the president thoughts that we dont continue to have to share these reports with you. But as long as they will, as long as they continue, we will continue to condemn them and look at ways that we can. Now onto the news of the day, you saw president truck yesterday delivering two of his most significant campaign promises, protecting country against radical islamic terrorism and repealing and replacing obamacare with education, sensor alternatives. We talked a lot about the executive order protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States yesterday and so on to obamacare. Id like to introduce secretary of health and Human Services doctor tom price to come up and talk a little bit about plans to repeal and replace obamacare, doctor price. Thanks sean. Good afternoon. First let me just share with you what an honor it is to serve as the secretary of health and Human Services. Im the third position out of 23 individuals who had the privilege is serving as secretary of health and Human Services. In the nation our department is to improve the health and safety of the American People and we take that position very seriously. And for Many Americans right now, their ability to gain healthcare for Health Coverage is a real challenge. For most americans, they receive their Health Coverage through their employer, its about 100 saw 75 million fulltime of those individuals who see no change other than there will be a penalty for not purchasing coverage. For the folks in the medicare system there will be no changes at all, the current law. Are talking about those people in the individual and Small Group Markets. The moms and pops, people to run the Corner Grocery store, the corner cleaners, those individuals are having huge challenges gaining care and gaining coverage and then medicaid is a program that by and large has decreased the ability for folks to gain access to care and we want to make certain we address that. This is about patient. Its not about money, this is not about health, this is about patients. And sadly, the costs are going up in the all group markets, the access is going up and its only getting worse, you know the story. Premiums increase 25 percent over the last year on average. Arizona had an increase of 116. Deductibles are going up for many folks. If you are a mom or dad and you make 40, 50,000 deductible in this market, that individual and small group oftentimes is eight, 10, 12,000 a year. What that means is you got an insurance card but you dont get care. Because you cant afford the duck deductible and we know this happens from talking to the folks out there trying to provide care. A third of the counties in the United States, one third of the counties have only one insurer offering coverage on the exchange. Five states only have one insurer on the exchange. In short, it is not a choice. We need to make certain we correct that. In tennessee this morning it was announced there are a number of counties that have no Stores Offering insurance on the exchange. Insurers are leaving the market. Last year there were 232 insurers providing coverage on the exchange, now there are 167, thats a loss of 30 percent in one year alone and all of this is that patients are not getting the care they need. The most that we have as our guiding start, our affordability. We want a system thats affordable for everybody. We need a system thats accessible for everybody, a system of the highest quality, assistant that incentivizes innovation in Healthcare System, a system that empowers patients through transparency and accountability. The president spoke last week to address congress and laid out his principal. First, you wanted to make certain those with preexisting illness and industry were not priced out of the market. Nobody ought to lose their coverage because diagnosis. In terms of affordability, Health Accounts are growing choices for patients is incredibly important, tax credits that allow individuals to be able to present the coverage that they want, not that the Government Forces them to buy but weve always talked about in terms of what kind of reforms need to be put in place that we need to equalize the tax treatment for the purchase of coverage. Those again in the employersponsored market get a tax benefit for buying Health Coverage. Those folks out there in the individual Small Group Market, no tax benefit and thats what this plan would do. Flexibility is incredibly important that we allow the states to be the ones that are putting Health Coverage and have the flexibility in the Medicaid Program to respond to their vulnerable populations. The president mentioned its important that the practical defensive medicine wastes billions of dollars every year and we need to make certain that we are addressing that as well. The president also talked about an appropriate transition to this new phase of healthcare for our country and thats important so that nobody falls through the cracks. Buying across state lines, buying insurance across state lines, the president talked about this on the campaign over and over. American people understand the common sense nature of purchasing across state lines and increases competition and we need to make sure that happens and addressing the increasing drug prices. There are three phases to this plan, one is the bill thatasto fairly well, there were 192 specific rules put out as they relate to obamacare, over 5000 letters of guidance in the life and we are going to go through every single one of those to make certain that they help patients and we need to continue them, they harm patients or increased costs, then obviously they need to be addressed. And theres other legislation that needs to be addressed can be done through the reconciliation process sothe goal of all this is better healthcare. Patients and families and doctors are making medical decisions. And we commend the house for the introduction of the bill yesterday and we look forward to working with all individuals in this process and i look forward to your questions. With the group to conserve the group and action, what does it say about legislation for groups that are already out with opposition . I think its the beginning of the process and we look forward to working with them and others to make certain again, we come up with that process aligned with the principles that we defined, that they actually adhere to or agree with as well and that is that we need a system thats affordable for folks, thats accessible for individuals, that of the highest quality and incentivizes innovation and that empowers patients and we look forward to working with them through this process. The country said today that americans pay for healthcare and they make these choices. Does the administration agree with that, will americans under this plan, will they need to make ratify other goods . Whats happening right now is the americans are having to sacrifice in order to purchase coverage and as i mentioned, many individuals cant afford the coverage that i have right now so they got insurance card that they dont have care. Our desire is is to drive down healthcare costs for everybody and the way that you do that is to increase choices for folks, increase competition, return the regulation on healthcare which is at the state level, not at the federal level. All these things e cost of healthcare and Health Coverage and that will allow folks to begin to get the purchases they want. Yes, sir. First it has to do with guarantees you may administration, going first in legislation. Can you guarantee that whatever legislation comes through the president s desk will allow individualsto keep their doctor and the second care is can you also guarantee that Health Care Premiums for individuals come down with this new legislation. Are remarkably important question because as youll recall the promise from the last administration was if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Both of those promises turned out to be not true. We think its incredibly important for the American People to be able to sel the position and place where they are treated in themselves. The government ought not to and so our goal is , ceain viduals ha opportunity to select their physician. Beeve stronglyhat through this whole process and that it takes effect so that we will see a decrease in not only the premiums but induals wi see a decrease in the cost of healthcare for folks. Remember, the Previous Administration made a promise that you see an increase in 2500 on average and families , what theyve seen is an increase of 2500 or 3000 and were going to go in the other direction, were going to go in a direction that empowers patients. Secretary, you are quite a tait it other entitlement very similar to the entitlement of obamacare. How do you convince people that its going to take tax credits to make this work, and move forward . We have a lot of opposition. Its all about patients. In order to provide transition in order to make it so nobody falls through the cracks, we got a system that allows for individuals to gain the coverage they want. And we the conservatives and others have said for a long time that we believe its important they equalize the tax treatment for those purchasing coverage, gaining through their employers and those that are not. The tax credit is the opportunity to be able to equalize that tax treatment, folks have talked about this for many years sothat there is not a distortion in the tax code or who is able to gain a benefit and purchase coverage or not. You were talking about making sure the last administration focused on making sure the underserved were part of the equation. What is the safeguard you have to make sure people not only on the tax incentives but for the underserved, many of whom are now inprograms. This is extremely important as well and the Current System as you likely note, for those who are vulnerable in our population especially in medicaid, this is this is a system thats broken. Youve got a third of the physicians in this country, one third of the doctors that would be eligible to see medicaid who are seeing medicaid expansion. Not because they forgot to take care of patients, its because the rules in place make it too onerous or too difficult for them to see medical patients so we believe its important for states to have that flexibility to fashion a program for their Vulnerable Program bonds to that population to give them the authority, then the choice, then the opportunity to gain coverage and the care that they believe most appropriate. Is there some type of punishment or type of piece that youre going to put in place to make sure that they follow through on your end . Absolutely, its accountability drop the plan that we have that would allow for the secretary and the department to be certain that the individuals that we believe need to be cared for our being cared for at the appropriate level. But people, this is a partnership. Its about patients and partnership. Previous administrations tended to make it about government, we believe its about partnership, we want to partner with every person who wants to make certain that we allow the kind of choices and equality. The president tweeted earlier today, he described this as our wonderful new health care bill. Theres a little confusion, is this represent the administrations bill . And is there anything in this bill the administration cannot support western mark x this is been a work in progress, going on for over a year. Work that i had the privilege of participating in in the house of representatives in the last congress. It was open and transparent and we invited folks in to give their ideas and tens if not hundreds of people had input into that process. This grew out of that and over the past number of weeks weve been having conversations with folks on the hill and in the house and senate and other stakeholders and so this is a work product that is a result of all that process. The president and the Administration Support this step in what we believe is the right direction, a step that reveals obamacare and gets us moving in the direction of those principles that i outlined. You support everything in the bill sitting on the table . This is a bill in progress and we will work with the senate, its a legislative process that occurs. We pointed out that the bill is on the table there, as you will see this bill right here was the bill that was introduced in 2009 by the Previous Administration, notice how thick that is. Some of you will recall i turned the pages and went through that legislation in youtube, the pilot on the right is the current bill and what it means is that we are making certain that the process, that the decisions that will be made are not going tobe made by the federal government, theyre going to be made by patients and families and doctors. Given the opportunity that brought up today, can this already be salvaged in your view . You know what happens to these things, you start the starting point, people engage in again involved in the process, sometimes to a greater degree, nothing focuses the mind like a bill thats currently on the table and is a work in progress. And we will work through it. This is an important process to be had. The American People have said to their elected leaders that the obamacare process for coverage and care is not working, thats what they said. We believe its important to respond to the American People and providing Healthcare System that allows the purchase coverage and care that they desire. You said in your letter to the house that necessary appropriate changes might need to be made for the bill at the president s desk so what specific changes is the white house and Administration Working for. There are three different phases to this process, one is this bill, thislegislation thats working through. Under the rules of reconciliation, that tends to me that only certain things you can do from a budgetary standpoint on spending or revenue. There are, you cant do in this bill. There are those that you plan on doing in phase 2 which is the regulatory portion and then in phase 3 which is another piece of legislation that would be going through the house and senate with a majority , super majority in the senate. That process will incorporate all of the kinds of things that we believe are absolutely necessary to reconstitute that individual in Small Group Market and to get us in a positionagain where patients and families and doctors are making decisions. Can you guarantee that this plan will not have an impact on the millions of americans losing Health Insurance . What i can say is the goal and desire of the individuals on the hill is that this does not increase the cost. The elements of the bill, i have questions about how they can work in this process , medicaid, per capita walkins in thestate , doesnt that fundamentally different from the obamacare regime in terms of the state enactment and the second point is why doesnt this bill do away with Offering Community ratings for obamacare . As a per capita, medicaid is a system that doesnt work for patients. Because you have. There who need care, who need to seeparticular physicians who are able to see. All americans should be saddened by this situation that they have when they are patient up there, we believe one of the keys to providing appropriate care in the medicaid population is allowing the state to have the flexibility to address that medicaid population, the naked population is for different demographic groups, those who are disabled, those who are seniors, healthy moms and kids by and large, those are the four main characteristics and we the federal government forced states mostly to take care of those individuals exactly the same way. If its described back to the folks back home on main street, they would think that doesnt make sense at all, you need a Program Different for the healthy moms and kids to respond to their needs different than the whole two are disabled and seniors. So what we believe is appropriate is you say to the states, you know your population best, you know best how to care or your vulnerable population, we got a lot to make certain that you do so, you know how to do that and that will decrease the cost markedly in the Medicaid Program. It will make a significant amount of money, not targeting too much care but wasting it because its inefficient and theres an abuse in the system so in terms of cost sharing, i think the costsharing measures are being addressed and its important that we run through that process. This is the process where we felt the Previous Administration was spending money that they didnt have the authority to spend in congress is working through that make certain people are holders of the Affordable Care act to spend money in this nation and congress and the United States expedites that authority. How do you feel about the label trump care. Thats not a description for it. I prefer to call it patient care. This is about patients for the end of the day. This is about appearances, t