As Tom Price, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, headed to a meeting at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston on Tuesday, a reporter from the Public News Service trailed after him in a hallway.

The reporter, Dan Heyman, wanted to ask about the health care legislation the House passed last week to replace the Affordable Care Act.

With his Android smartphone in hand to use as an audio recorder, Mr. Heyman said in an interview on Wednesday, he reached over some of the staff and security members surrounding Mr. Price.

According to an audio recording Mr. Heyman provided, he asked whether domestic violence was going to be a pre-existing condition under the new legislation.