Jacqueline Larma/AP OIG: Investigation of Tom Price’s charter travel is 'underway'

The inspector general's office of the Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing HHS Secretary Tom Price’s taxpayer-funded travel on private jets, a spokesperson told POLITICO.

“We take this matter very seriously, and when questions arose about potentially inappropriate travel, we immediately began assessing the issue,” the OIG spokesperson said. “I can confirm that work is underway and will be completed as soon as possible.”


POLITICO first reported on Tuesday that Price had been taking private jets to conduct official business for months. Democrats on Wednesday formally requested an investigation.

The review focuses on whether Price complied with Federal Travel Regulations but may address related issues, the spokesperson said. Those regulations expressly advise officials that “taxpayers should pay no more than necessary for your transportation.”

Price has taken at least 24 flights on private charter planes at taxpayers’ expense since early May, including a flight on a private jet to Oklahoma this week, POLITICO reported on Thursday.

The frequency of the trips underscores how private travel has become the norm — rather than the exception — for the former Georgia Republican congressman during his time 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.

A spokesperson for Price said that the HHS secretary began using charter jets after a delay of a commercial flight forced him to miss an official HHS event, but the spokesperson could not offer any details about the specific flight delay or missed event.

Price’s use of private jets breaks with the practices of Obama administration HHS secretaries Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially while in the continental United States and deliberately avoided taking charter jets. HHS staff last year scrapped a proposal for Burwell to take a multi-city tour linked to the kickoff of annual Obamacare enrollment because the trip would have required charter aircraft and cost about $60,000.

