Tom Price Is the Walking Definition of an Appearance of Corruption

[DonViejo]

By Jordan Weissmann

Here are some things we have learned recently about Georgia Rep. Tom Price, Donald Trump's pick to be secretary of health and human services.

First, the congressman has a habit of trading stocks in medical companies while also writing legislation that could sway those firms’ fortunes. The Wall Street Journal recently found that Price had “bought and sold stock in about 40 health-care, pharmaceutical and biomedical companies since 2012, including a dozen in the current congressional session.” In total, he traded shares worth $300,000. Price, a former orthopedic surgeon who now chairs the extremely powerful House Budget Committee, regularly introduces bills on health care policy and sits on the House subcommittee that oversees Medicare.

Second, his investments have included at least one very nice bargain. In 2015 Price bought discounted stock in a small Australian biotech firm, Innate Immuno, that was attempting to win Food and Drug Administration approval for a new multiple sclerosis drug. Price purchased the stock in a private offering marketed only to “sophisticated U.S. investors” that Kaiser Health News referred to as a “sweetheart deal.” To be fair, all U.S. buyers received a 12 percent discount on their shares, which is reportedly standard in such a private placement. However, the stock price was also rising fast. Price has notched a 400 percent gain on the investment, Kaiser notes.

Finally, as CNN reported this weekend, Price introduced a bill that would assist a major medical device–maker less than a week after investing in it. Price bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in Zimmer Biomet, which manufacturers products like knee- and hip-replacement parts. Within days, he introduced the HIP Act, which would have delayed a new Obama administration regulation that may have crimped Zimmer Biomet's profits by changing the way Medicare paid for hip- and knee-replacement surgeries. After CNN's story was published, Price's aide told the news org that the congressman's stock broker had made the investment without his knowledge and that Price didn't become aware of the purchase until after introducing his bill. Nonetheless, “Price continued to hold about $2,000 worth of shares in the company, the source said, despite having introduced the bill that would have helped the firm just days earlier.”

more
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2017/01/17/tom_price_s_shady_stock_trades_should_disqualify_him_from_hhs.html

[northoftheborder]

1. I thought Congress passed a law against this.