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HHS Secretary Tom Price Lied, Or Hasn't Read The Bill He's Selling

When asked about the tax break to insurers for CEO compensation, he played dumb.

As I explained yesterday, Republicans' death care health care proposal has a very special provision for health insurers.

The Affordable Care Act limited corporate deductions for CEO pay to $500,000. They could (and did) still pay CEOs more than that, but could not deduct it as an "ordinary and reasonable" business expense on their corporate returns.

One of the new bills takes that restriction out, enabling insurers to fully deduct the tens of millions they pay their CEOs to make sure more Americans die.

When a reporter asked Price about how "tax breaks for insurer CEOs" leads to patient-centered health care, Price told him he was "unaware of that provision."

The question was awkward, since it's really a tax break for insurance companies, which will likely raise CEO compensation. If insurers can deduct huge compensation to their CEOs in full, they'll likely pay them more, which means less dollars for health care.

It's not a hard provision to find. In fact, it was one of the first provisions reporters zeroed in on. But Price is either lying to that reporter or else he didn't read the bills he was up there selling.

The question still remains: How does giving rich people and insurance companies tax breaks add up to patient-centered care?

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