Price told me unequivocally that reforming the system has to start with fully repealing Obamacare: “It needs to be fully repealed, because the first step out of the gate for Obamacare is a step in the wrong direction and that is for government control over every aspect of health care, so it’s hard to fix the system that they have put in place without ending that premise that government ought to be running and controlling health care.”

At the same time, in contrast to some conservatives, Price told me, “Coverage is important, and our bill, the ‘Empowering Patients First Act,’ we believe provides not just an incentive, but the financial feasibility for every single American to purchase the coverage that they want.” He added that, “The system doesn’t work if people aren’t covered.”

When it comes to healthcare policy, those on the right have been engaged in a long struggle, which my book detailed, on how to reverse Obamacare. The spectrum of opinion has ranged from a desire to fully uproot Obamacare and fundamentally reject its emphasis on expanding coverage (rather than merely reducing costs) to a preference to reforming it more modestly and perhaps maintain certain provisions. Price falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum (one also occupied by his ally Ryan). That is, he wants to fully repeal it, but he also thinks it’s important to consider policies that would provide broad coverage.

The biggest demonstration of this is Price’s preference for offering tax credits to individuals to purchase insurance rather than simple tax deductions.