Tom Price Intervened on Rule That Would Hurt Drug Profits, the Same Day He Acquired Drug Stock
Source: propublica.org
On the same day the stockbroker for then-Georgia Congressman Tom Price bought him up to $90,000 of stock in six pharmaceutical companies last year, Price arranged to call a top U.S. health official, seeking to scuttle a controversial rule that could have hurt the firms profits and driven down their share prices, records obtained by ProPublica show.
Stock trades made by Price while he served in Congress came under scrutiny at his confirmation hearings to become President Trumps secretary of health and human services. The lawmaker, a physician, traded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shares in health-related companies while he voted on and sponsored legislation affecting the industry, but Price has said his broker acted on his behalf without his involvement or knowledge. ProPublica previously reported that his trading is said to have been under investigation by federal prosecutors.
On March 17, 2016, Prices broker purchased shares worth between $1,000 and $15,000 each in Eli Lilly, Amgen, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, McKesson, Pfizer and Biogen. Previous reports have noted that, a month later, Price was among lawmakers from both parties who signed onto a bill that would have blocked a rule proposed by the Obama administration, which was intended to remove the incentive for doctors to prescribe expensive drugs that dont necessarily improve patient outcomes.
What hasnt been previously known is Prices personal appeal to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services about the rule, called the Medicare Part B Drug Payment Model. The same day as the stock trade, Prices legislative aide, Carla DiBlasio, emailed health officials to follow up on a request she had made to set up a call with Patrick Conway, the agencys chief medical officer. In her earlier emails, DiBlasio said the call would focus on payments for joint replacement procedures. But that day, she mentioned a new issue.
Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/tom-price-intervened-rule-hurt-drug-profits-same-day-acquired-drug-stock
While in Congress, HHS Secretary Tom Price acted to help kill a rule that would hurt drug company profits shortly after his broker bought him up to $90,000 worth of pharmaceutical stock.
GOP insider trading has been going on for a long time
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)tenorly
(2,037 posts)That, plus enough third-world style kleptocracy to make Uribe and Mobutu blush, and you've got Trump and Tom Price.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)Are there ANY HONEST republicans, or are they all underhanded snakes? They sure came out of the woodwork with the Agent Orange takeover. Someone should tell first lady/wife Ivanka not to get too comfortable in her office at the WH.
IronLionZion
(45,427 posts)A government of billionaires making themselves richer while screwing everyone else
mdbl
(4,973 posts)just trying to line his pockets.
Vinca
(50,261 posts)dalton99a
(81,451 posts)KewlKat
(5,624 posts)Last edited Sat Apr 1, 2017, 09:43 AM - Edit history (1)
When he was fired?
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/324539-preet-bharara-said-to-have-been-investigating-tom-price
Not much more at the link. Very short.
Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney fired by the Justice Department last week, was investigating Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price at the time of his dismissal, Pro Publica reported Friday.
The former New York attorney's probe concerned the legitimacy of Prices investments in biotech companies.
Democrats accused Price of using his congressional office to benefit himself, though the former lawmaker insisted that the trades were proper and legal.
https://www.propublica.org/article/preet-bharara-fired-investigating-tom-price-hhs-stock-trading
SNIPS....more at the link
Price testified at the time that his trades were lawful and transparent. Democrats accused him of potentially using his office to enrich himself. One lawmaker called for an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing concerns Price could have violated the STOCK Act, a 2012 law signed by President Obama that clarified that members of Congress cannot use nonpublic information for profit and requires them to promptly disclose their trades.
In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that Price traded more than $300,000 worth of shares in health companies over a recent four-year period, while taking actions that could have affected those companies. Price, an orthopedic surgeon, chaired the powerful House Budget Committee and sat on the Ways and Means Committees health panel.
In one case, Price was one of just a handful of American investors allowed to buy discounted stock in Innate Immunotherapeutics a tiny Australian company working on an experimental multiple sclerosis drug. The company hoped to be granted investigational new drug status from the Food and Drug Administration, a designation that expedites the approval process.
Members of congress often try to apply pressure on the FDA. As ProPublica has reported, Prices office has taken up the causes of health care companies, and in one case urged a government agency to remove a damaging drug study on behalf of a pharmaceutical company whose CEO donated to Prices campaign.
DK504
(3,847 posts)in insider trading. Martha Stewart goes to prison and these guys make more money in one day than 50% of Americans make in a year.
But that's cool, we don't mind.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)that Stewart went to the joint for a lot less than this...
elmac
(4,642 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)jpak
(41,757 posts)yup
diva77
(7,640 posts)elleng
(130,865 posts)YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)He should be prosecuted for this. He won't be.