Tom Price continues to light taxpayer money on fire

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has taken at least 24 flights on private charter planes at taxpayers’ expense since early May, according to people with knowledge of his travel plans and a review of HHS documents.

The frequency of the trips underscores how private travel has become the norm — rather than the exception — for the Georgia Republican during his tenure atop the federal health agency, which began in February. The cost of the trips identified by POLITICO exceeds $300,000, according to a review of federal contracts and similar trip itineraries.

Price’s use of private jets represents a sharp departure from his two immediate predecessors, Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially in the continental United States. HHS officials have said Price uses private jets only when commercial travel is not feasible.

But many of the flights are between large cities with frequent, low-cost airline traffic, such as a trip from Washington to Nashville that the secretary took on June 6 to make a morning event at a medication distributor and an afternoon speech.

Click to expand...

In June, Price spoke at a physicians association conference in San Diego, where he vowed to wring out wasteful spending in the government’s health care programs. Getting “value” for spending “is incredibly important,” he said.

Price took a private plane to get to the meeting, which was one stop on a five-state sprint of charter travel that cost $50,420.

Click to expand...

Greenbeard said:

Several months ago, many folks correctly pointed out that the current head of HHS is a deeply unethical man who's been cashing in on his public service for years (e.g.: "HHS pick Tom Price made ‘brazen’ stock trades while his committee was under scrutiny" and "Tom Price Bought Pharma Stocks — Then Lobbied for the Industry in Australia").

Imagine the shock to discover he's also a phony fiscal conservative who's wasting literally hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars by refusing to fly commercial like his predecessors.



He's even jet setting (at exorbitant expense to the taxpayers) to conferences where he preaches against wasteful spending!



If only someone would drain the swamp of scumbags like Price.

Click to expand...

Greenbeard said:

Several months ago, many folks correctly pointed out that the current head of HHS is a deeply unethical man who's been cashing in on his public service for years (e.g.: "HHS pick Tom Price made ‘brazen’ stock trades while his committee was under scrutiny" and "Tom Price Bought Pharma Stocks — Then Lobbied for the Industry in Australia").

Imagine the shock to discover he's also a phony fiscal conservative who's wasting literally hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars by refusing to fly commercial like his predecessors.



He's even jet setting (at exorbitant expense to the taxpayers) to conferences where he preaches against wasteful spending!



If only someone would drain the swamp of scumbags like Price.

Click to expand...

Fletch said:

Think of it as stimulus.

Click to expand...

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price took a government-funded private jet in August to get to St. Simons Island, an exclusive Georgia resort where he and his wife own land, a day and a half before he addressed a group of local doctors at a medical conference that he and his wife have long attended.

The St. Simons Island trip was one of two taxpayer-funded flights on private jets in which Price traveled to places where he owns property, and paired official visits with meetings with longtime colleagues and family members. On June 6, HHS chartered a jet to fly Price to Nashville, Tennessee, where he owns a condominium and where his son resides. Price toured a medicine dispensary and spoke to a local health summit organized by a longtime friend. He also had lunch with his son, an HHS official confirmed.

Click to expand...

Richard Painter, who served as the top ethics official for President George W. Bush, said that Price’s trips may have been legal but were ethically dubious.

“To use a charter flight on something that combines personal and government business, I think it’s highly unprofessional and really inappropriate,” Painter said – especially if personal business represented and disproportionate part of the trip.

Click to expand...