HHS nominee’s stock buys raise ethical questions: report

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services purchased shares in a medical device manufacturer and then introduced legislation that would benefit the company, according to a CNN report Monday.

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) in March bought between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of shares in Zimmer Biomet. Days later, he introduced the HIP Act to delay a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulation that industry analysts said would have significantly hurt that company financially, according to CNN.

{mosads}Zimmer Biomet, a leading manufacturer of hip and knee replacement, was reportedly one of two companies that would have been hit hardest by the CMS regulation directly affecting payments for those procedures.

Price’s move is now raising questions about whether he conducted insider trading while on Capitol Hill, just days ahead of his first confirmation hearing in the Senate.  

Price said last week that he’s planning to divest from 43 companies, including Zimmer Biomet, within the next 90 days to avoid an appearances of conflicts of interest.

“This report and his previous trades cast serious doubt on whether Congressman Price is fit to hold the office of Secretary for Health and Human Services,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a Monday statement.

“This new report makes clear that this isn’t just a couple of questionable trades, but rather a clear and troubling pattern of Congressman Price trading stock and using his office to benefit the companies in which he is investing,” he continued.

“The President-elect claims he wants to drain the swamp, but Congressman Price has spent his career filling it up.”

Schumer called on the Office of Congressional Ethics to “conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into these potential violations of the STOCK Act.”