Tom Price: Everything you need to know about the former HHS secretary
Price resigned from his position amid controversy over his private travel.
— -- Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned from his position Friday after it was revealed he utilized private aircraft at taxpayer expense for as many as 26 government trips in recent months.
The former Georgia Republican congressman was a strong critic of the Affordable Care Act and assisted the Trump administration in its currently unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace the health care bill.
Here's everything you need to know about Price:
Name: Thomas Edmunds Price
Age: 62 (Born Oct. 8, 1954)
Hometown: Lansing, Michigan
Family Tree: Married to Elizabeth “Betty” Price and together they have one son.
What he used to do: He represented Georgia’s 6th Congressional District (Atlanta suburbs) since 2005. He was the chairman of the House Budget Committee. He previously served as the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee and the chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
Before entering national politics, Price served four terms in the Georgia state Senate. He was the minority whip for two of those terms. Prior to that, he was a practicing orthopedic surgeon. He was one of only a handful of doctors serving on Capitol Hill.
What you might not know about him
He's the first secretary with a medical background since Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, who served under George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993.
His stance on the Affordable Care Act
He was one of the most prominent critics of the ACA.
Price introduced the Empowering Patients First Act to the 113th Congress (2013–14) — which was described on his Congress website as “legislation that fully repeals Obamacare and starts over with patient-centered solutions.” The bill is almost 250 pages long.
“We think it’s important that Washington not be in charge of health care,” he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview last summer. “The problem that I have with ‘Obamacare’ is that its premise is that Washington knows best.”
In that interview, Price said that he was open to compromise. “There’s a genuine desire to have us coalesce around a single plan so that the American people can see who’s trying to solve these challenges. I wouldn’t draw any lines in the sand other than that the path that we’re on doesn’t work,” he said.
On the third anniversary of the ACA rollout, Price delivered the weekly Republican address to criticize the law and tout the Better Way agenda. “We repeal things like the individual mandate, and we say that you should be free to pick whichever insurance plan you need, not the one Washington forces you to buy,” he said.
During his confirmation hearing in January, Price said of Republicans hoping to repeal and replace ACA, "Nobody is interested in pulling the rug out from under anybody."
About his confirmation hearing
Price was grilled by Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, who were concerned about Price's stock trades while he was a congressman.
Democrats questioned Price over his purchasing of shares of an Australian drug company and accused him of insider trading.
"Is that not a stock tip?" the top Democrat on the panel, Wisconsin Sen. Patty Murray asked.
"I had no access to nonpublic information," Price insisted.
Price was also asked about his March 2016 purchase and sale of stock in a hip replacement manufacturing company as he introduced legislation that could have helped that company.
"The stock was bought by a broker. I wasn’t making those decisions,” Price replied.
History with the Trump ticket
Price endorsed Trump near the end of the GOP primaries in May and was one of the first House committee chairmen to endorse him. Price served as the chairman of the Republican Study Committee from 2009 to 2010, a post previously held by current Vice President Mike Pence.