Tom Price (politician, 1954)

Tom Price (2017)

Thomas Edmunds "Tom" Price (born October 8, 1954 in Lansing , Michigan ) is an American doctor and politician of the Republican Party . From 2005 to 2017 he represented the state of Georgia in the US House of Representatives . He served in the cabinet of President Donald Trump from February 10 to September 29, 2017, as Secretary of Health of the United States .

Family, education and work

Tom Price attended public schools in his home country. He then studied at the University of Michigan until 1976 . After studying medicine at the same university and becoming a doctor, he began to practice. He moved to Georgia, where he ran an orthopedic clinic in Atlanta for 20 years. Then he was a professor at the local Emory University .

Tom Price is married and has one son. He lives in Roswell , a suburb of Atlanta.

Political career

Price began his political career in the Georgia Senate . He sat in this state legislative body between 1997 and 2004.

Congressman from 2004 to 2017

In the November 2004 election , Price was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the sixth congressional electoral district of Georgia , where he succeeded Senate friend Johnny Isakson on January 3, 2005 . After Price was confirmed in the following elections - most recently in 2016 - he held his mandate in Congress until February 10, 2017. There he was in the meantime a member of the education and working committee . He later sat on the Committee on Ways and Means and the Budget Committee , which he chaired in 2013. He was also a member of several sub-committees. Price drafted a Republican counter-concept to the health care reform of the federal government under President Barack Obama (" Obamacare ").

Minister of Health 2017

Following Donald Trump's victory in the November 8, 2016 presidential election, Trump's transition team announced in late November 2016 that Price was slated for the post of Minister of Health. Like Trump, he is one of the vehement critics of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act , the health insurance reform of the previous President Barack Obama ("Obamacare"). On February 10, 2017, he was confirmed by the Senate with 52 to 47 votes , whereupon he resigned his congressional mandate and took office.

During his tenure, the Republicans, who in addition to the White House also held a majority in both chambers of Congress, made several attempts to abolish Obamacare, which - in addition to reducing costs - according to calculations by the Congressional Budget Office cost about 20 million people each health insurance would have. The bills all failed because of the quarrels between the various wings of the Republicans: While the right-wing conservative section ( Tea Party movement , House Freedom Caucus ) did not go far enough with the proposals , many centrist moderates considered too far-reaching.

On September 29, 2017, Price resigned as health minister because of criticism of the cost of his air travel (see controversies ). The ministerial official Don J. Wright took over the official business. Seema Verma , Head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services , and Scott Gottlieb , Head of the Food and Drug Administration , were discussed as successors . Ultimately, Alex Azar was his successor.

Controversy

In January 2017, it was announced that Price had acquired shares in medical technology company Zimmer Biomet Holdings . Less than a week after the purchase, Price initiated the HIP Act, which will delay the introduction of new Medicare regulations until 2018. Shortly thereafter, Zimmer Biomets made a donation to Price's re-election campaign.

In late September 2017, Price came under fire after Politico reported that he had cost taxpayers at least $ 400,000 in travel expenses during his tenure to date. According to Politico's report, he had used various public-sector charter flights , the costs of which were many times that of tickets on scheduled flights . In some cases he had even started such trips for private purposes. Initially, Price claimed (incorrectly) that there were no scheduled flights at the same time. However, he later admitted his wrongdoing and offered to cover the travel expenses for himself in the amount of approximately $ 51,000, which would not have covered much of the costs (such as for employees and relatives) caused by his decision. President Trump publicly stated that he was "not happy" with the situation. Politico accused Price on September 28, 2017 of having incurred approximately $ 500,000 in expenses for flights outside the United States in addition to the known costs. Price then resigned on September 29th.

Web links

Commons : Tom Price  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Tom Price in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Tom Price in the nndb (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Trump's cabinet: Price confirmed as Minister of Health. In: Tagesschau.de , February 10, 2017.
2. ^ Peter Baker: Health Secretary Tom Price Resigns After Drawing Ire for Chartered Flights. In: The New York Times , September 29, 2017 (English).
3. ^ Robert Pear: Senate Confirms Trump Nominee Alex Azar as Health Secretary. In: The New York Times , January 24, 2018.
4. ^ Manu Raju: First on CNN: Trump's Cabinet pick invested in company, then introduced a bill to help it. In: CNN.com , January 17, 2017 (English).
5. ^ Andrew S. Tanenbaum : Price Will Reimburse the Government for 13% of His Chartered Jets. In: Electoral Vote , 29 September 2017 (English).