[Cooper:] Donald Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, Georgia congressman, Tom Price is facing heat all by Democrats we should point out on the eve of his Senate confirmation hearing. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for an investigation to Price after CNN's Manu Raju reported that Price bought stock in a medical device maker and then introduce legislation that would have directly benefited the company. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on the fallout and the other questions surrounding Price's nomination.
[Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent:] Reaction from Democrats about allegations regarding Tom Price's stock prices was swift.
[Sen. Chuck Schumer,  Minority Leader:] I am extremely troubled and he's got a steep mountain to climb. I'll wait to see what he says at the hearing, but it's going to be awfully hard for him to dig himself out of this hole.
[Gupta:] A Trump transition spokesman called the allegations, "junk, adding any effort to connect the introduction of bipartisan legislation by Dr. Price to any campaign contribution is demonstrably false." This isn't the first time Price's relationship with the health care industry has come under scrutiny. In December, the "Wall Street Journal" reported Price made 40 health care pharmaceutical and biotechnology stock trades since 2012, totaling more than $300,000. All widely set on a powerful Waste and Means Committee in helping overseeing Medicare. This month an investigation by the Kaiser Family Foundation found Price, "sought special treatment from the FDA for industry donors on 38 different occasions." Price declined our request for an interview and, through a spokesman, said he will, "comply fully with the recommendations put forward by the ethics office." The statement included a reference to a previous government investigation that found Price to be compliant with congressional disclosure rules. As for Price's personal history, a search by CNN found no court, criminal or bankruptcy filings and no medical malpractice complaints against him. Dr. Dan Barrow is the chairman of neurosurgery at Emory University. He's my boss. And he has also helped raised campaign funds for Price. When he started his residency nearly 40 years ago in 1979, Price was one of his fellow interns.
[Dr. Dan Barrow, Chief Of Neurosurgery, Emory University Hospital:] There are a couple of circumstances in life where you really see what people are like. One is when they don't think anybody is watching them, and the other is when you're under some kind of stress.
[Gupta:] What did Tom Price sort of fit in to all that for you?
[Barrow:] I think he was one of the best that I dealt with.
[Gupta:] Price got his medical degree from the University of Michigan. It was during his orthopedic surgery residency at Grady Memorial Hospital in Emory University in Atlanta, Price met his wife, Elizabeth, Betty, an anesthesiologist and current Georgia State representative. Together they had one son, Robert, 26, who graduated from Vanderbilt. After eight years in Georgia State Senate, Price was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004. Guided by strongly held religious beliefs, Price is staunchly against abortion, getting a zero rating from Planned Parenthood and a 100 from National Right to Life.
[Rep. Sam Zamarripa,  Georgia:] Tom is a lives and breathes public policy.
[Gupta:] Sam Zamarippa served as a State senator with Tom Price.
[Zamarripa:] This guy is a born legislator with a lot of skill.
[Gupta:] Skill he's pledged the use to repeal Obamacare, something he has been trying to do for years.
[Rep. Tom Price, Nominee For Secretary Of Health And Human Services:] We want to repeal this law and we want to replace it with positive, common sense, patience-centered solutions that put patients and families and doctors in charge of health care, not Washington,
[D.c. Gupta:] If Price is confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, he would oversee 11 agencies, including the CDC, FDA, National Institutes of Health, and 80,000 employees. He'd be just a third physician ever appointed to this role.
[Cooper:] And Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me along with the rest of the panel. What do you hearing from doctors about Price but also about the Affordable Care Act?
[Gupta:] Well, it's hard to paint doctors with one brush, you know, certainly, they're very different and they're also different a little bit on these two issues. I think for the most part, doctors have been pretty supportive of Tom Price, all the major medical organizations have released statements in supports of his nomination. I think with regards to the Affordable Care Act it's almost more of a question of feeling a little stuck. That's probably the best way I can put it. Most of the major medical organizations said they would prefer to not see the repealed, more so, not so much because they agreed with all the principles of it, but because they don't want to destabilize the existing system now which has been in place. I think it was only about 3 percent or 3.2 percent of doctors gave the Affordable Care Act in A grade. So the vast majority giving, you know, C or lower.
[Cooper:] Right.
[Gupta:] So that's sort of the position they're in.
[Cooper:] It is interesting, John, I mean, as we talk about Trump talked to the "Washington Post", said his health care plan is insurance for everybody. I mean that's never been part of the Republican plan for health care and there's parsing of the words of exactly what he meant.
[King:] Like on many issues, I do not mean to disrespect at all, but you need a Trump translator because he does not speak in the language of Washington. When he says NATO is obsolete, what his staff says he means this, a lot of members don't pay their dues. So people have to increase their defense budget, so not that he wants to get rid of NATO. On health care when he says insurance for everybody, does he mean universal coverage? Well that requires government incentives, that requires a lot of money. We don't know exactly what he means because he gives the statement he has said, I don't have the plan ready yet. To Dr. Price, Congressman Price credit, during the repeal debate in Congress, he was one of the Republicans who said I have some plans. Now, they do not get to universal coverage or, you know, universal access. They don't have as much government role as much more market based. So if Trump has a plan that covers everybody or just about everybody that is different from his own health secretary's plan, this is a part of the confusion right now as we await for the specific proposal.
[Cooper:] And of course the timing of any kind of replacement is critical.
[Borger:] Well, it's got to happen right away. And Donald Trump has made that very clear and politically he's absolutely right about that. Because to Sanjay's point about destabilizing the medical community, you are destabilizing the American population. You have 18 million people who have health insurance now who are afraid they're going to lose it. You have people with preexisting conditions, et cetera. And he understands that you can't take something away without giving voters something better. And it's complicated. They've had six and a half years from, you know, or eight years you might argue, but, you know, to replace it and they haven't come up with a real plan other than Price's plan, which a lot of people don't like, particularly Democrats and some Republicans. So how do you do that? How do you save Medicaid? How do you save Medicare and give people universal access?
[King:] But [inaudible].
[Lord:] Well, you know, as somebody, Trump speak is my second language.
[Rye:] We've noticed. That was good.
[Cooper:] We're out of time so
[Lord:] All right. So I think what he is talking about here is accessible, which is
[Borger:] Right.
[Lord:] you know, everybody has health care access, that's what he's talking about. He's not talking about a government mandated in the insurance program. When I asked, Tom Price, I would just suggest again as I've said the main problem here is his position on Obamacare, not any of the rest of this. But that's why they do this.
[Cooper:] You're saying it's all political?
[Lord:] Sure. Absolutely. I mean, he's not the first to go through this kind of thing I might add.
[Bernstein:] What do you mean he means access? He says what he means and he said something like this before. You know, he'll take on the Republicans sometimes. Now, they might try to beat him over the head on this because it is such an enactment to what they believe. But I'm not so sure.
[Cooper:] We shall see. In the last hour, you we heard from a small business owner, who is very optimistic about the Trump presidency. Coming up next we'll hear the other side, leaders of the so-called "Sanctuary Church Movement", and the immigrants they protect and they are not giving up hope, but they're concerned about may happen, and hear from them when "360" continues.