By John Fredericks / Staff

Dr. Tom Price (R-Ga/6th) may know a little something about medicine. He was a successful surgeon in Roswell for many years, building a thriving practice from virtual scratch.

Price weighed in on President Obama’s health care plan this week in a press conference with reporters. Below are key excerpts from that press conference.

PRICE: As a physician and a member of Congress, the number one concern with [Obama’s plan] are where the medical decisions are going to be made. It appears that the plan that the President has outlined will make it such that the medical decisions will be moved from allowing patients and physicians to make those medical decisions to having a government [make] those medical decisions, [under] a government-run plan. I think it is unacceptable for the physicians of America and I think that is unacceptable for the patients of America.

The other major concern that folks have is the definition of quality care. The Comparative Effectiveness Research Council has been put in place, and of the 15 members of the appointed board, not a single [member] is an actively practicing physician. This gives [us] great pause and ought to give the American people great pause. It appears that the President and this administration are very interested in moving toward a government-run system as opposed to a patient empowerment and patient-run system.

Q: Could you point us to where in the president’s campaign platform or in any of the [proposals] that have come from the Democrats where it says the government is going to be the one that is making medical decisions?

PRICE: There are two specific areas that I would point to. The whole issue of this government-run plan has been identified clearly in the economic literature and those who are very familiar with the financing and delivery of health care. When you have a government-run option that competes with the private sector, what happens is that it crowds out individuals who are eligible for that plan and moves them from the private personal insurance into the government-run program. The state children’s health insurance program is a classic example of that.

Q: Isn’t that a definition of health insurance though of any form whether it is public or private that there is an intermediary that makes determinations about what it will cover and what it won’t?

PRICE: It may be so long as it is the patient’s decision to purchase that health insurance or purchase that health care. What the President’s plan has in store is no ability for the individual to opt out of the system without being forced to the government-run program. That’s the challenge and if patients and doctors aren’t able to privately contract and aren’t able to say, ‘okay the government may have an idea over here but we believe that free people ought to be able to make decisions of their own free will and contract for the kind of care that they so desire’ then we have changed the system fundamentally in the direction of a government takeover.

Q: Is there something in the plan that’s says that people won’t be able to do that?

PRICE:  I was speaking to a group of Chicago business individuals and each and every one of them said that is exactly what they would do. They would no longer provide health insurance for their employees. They would move them into the government-run program. This isn’t a myth and it’s not fiction. It happens every day when you have that kind of program…It’s relatively transparent what this administration’s ideas are about who ought to be running health care. And they don’t believe it ought to be patients. And they don’t believe it ought to be the folks providing the care.