Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Secretary Flew To Exclusive Resort And City Where His Son Lives On Private Jet
Politico: Price’s Private-Jet Travels Included Visits With Colleagues, Lunch With Son
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. (Diamond and Pradhan, 9/26)
Los Angeles Times: Mnuchin, Price And Others On Trump's Team Are Getting Taxpayer-Funded Travel Perks – But Where's The Outrage?
The Treasury secretary requested a military plane for his European honeymoon. The head of Health and Human Services ran up a six-figure tab flying around the country on private jets. The chief of the Environmental Protection Agency dinged taxpayers for repeated excursions back home to Oklahoma. In normal times, Washington’s scandal machinery would be kicking into high gear. Mounting outrage — some real, some calculated — would lead to months of hearings and calls for criminal investigations. (Finnegan and Barabak, 9/26)
Bloomberg: Sebelius Calls Price's Private Chartered Plane Travel ‘Stunning’
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called her successor Tom Price’s repeated use of chartered aircraft “stunning” and said the only time she ever flew a private jet while in office was to visit a trio of remote Alaskan villages. During her tenure, Sebelius told a roundtable of Bloomberg reporters and editors, health department officials were required to fly economy class for all travel less than 12 consecutive hours. Her lone charter flight, she said, was in a propeller plane her staff hired to visit three villages inaccessible by road or commercial aircraft. (Sink, 9/26)
Politico Pro: Poll: Voters Say Price's Charter Flights Are Inappropriate
Nearly two-thirds of registered voters disapprove of HHS Secretary Tom Price’s decision to charter private jets to conduct official business, a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows. Sixty-four percent of voters said it was inappropriate for Price to take private aircraft, which costs tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial flights. Sixteen percent said the trips were appropriate. (Pradhan, 9/27)
