Tom Price Bio
Thomas Edmunds Price (born October 8, 1954) is an American physician and Republican Party politician who served as the U.S. representative for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, encompassing the northern suburbs of Atlanta, from 2005 to 2017. A trained orthopedic surgeon, Price chaired the House Budget Committee and held senior leadership roles in the Republican Study Committee and the House Republican Policy Committee. In February 2017 he was confirmed as the 23rd Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump, a position he held until September 2017.
Price has been a leading conservative voice on health care and fiscal policy, sponsoring alternatives to the Affordable Care Act and advocating limited government, free-market reforms, and traditional social policies. He is widely regarded as one of the most conservative members of Congress during his tenure, and he has been an active participant in debates over taxation, abortion, gun rights, and federal spending. He resides in Roswell, Georgia, with his wife, Betty, and their son.
Early Life and Background
Thomas Edmunds Price was born on October 8, 1954, in Lansing, Michigan, United States. He grew up in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, where he attended Dearborn High School. Price has been open about the formative experiences that shaped his path toward medicine and public service, and his Midwestern upbringing placed him in contact with the kind of community-centered values that he later carried into politics.
Price went on to attend the University of Michigan, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. He remained at the same institution for his medical education, ultimately receiving his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of Michigan. His training as a physician, particularly his specialization in orthopedic surgery, became a defining feature of his public identity and a foundation for his later work in health policy.
Before entering elected office, Price established himself as a practicing orthopedic surgeon. His professional background gave him firsthand experience with the U.S. health care system and informed his lifelong concerns about the role of government regulation in medicine. These concerns would later become central to his political career.
Path to U.S. Politics
Price’s entry into politics came in 1995, when he received a phone call from state senator Sallie Newbill of Georgia’s 56th senate district. Newbill, who was planning to retire, personally asked Price if he would be interested in succeeding her. Price accepted the offer and went on to defeat Democrat Ellen Milholland in the general election, 71% to 29%.
In a 1998 rematch, Price won re-election to a second term by defeating Milholland again, this time by a margin of 75% to 25%. He was re-elected to a third term unopposed in 2000 and to a fourth term unopposed in 2002. Throughout this period, he cited discontent with government regulations of the health care industry as his primary reason for becoming involved in politics.
Price steadily rose through the ranks of the Georgia State Senate. On November 6, 1998, he was elected minority whip, a position he held until November 14, 2002, when Republicans took control of the state senate. At that point, Price was elected majority leader, becoming the first Republican ever to hold that position in Georgia. He served as majority leader until he was replaced by Bill Stephens on June 17, 2003. His time in the state senate also included service on committees covering Appropriations, Economic Development and Tourism, Education, Ethics, Health and Human Services, Insurance and Labor, Reapportionment and Redistricting, and Rules.
Tom Price Career
Early Career (1996–2004)
Price’s political career formally began with his 1996 election to the Georgia State Senate, representing the 56th district. He won decisively in his first race and demonstrated an early ability to appeal to Georgia voters with a message focused on limited government and a free-market approach to health care. His background as a practicing orthopedic surgeon gave him credibility in policy debates, while his pragmatic leadership style helped him build relationships across the political spectrum.
As he continued to win re-election, Price’s influence within the state legislature grew. He was elected minority whip in 1998 and, four years later, became the first Republican majority leader in the history of the Georgia State Senate. His tenure was marked by a focus on fiscal discipline and reform, and he gained a reputation as a skilled negotiator during difficult budget years. These early accomplishments laid the foundation for his eventual leap to federal office.
Congressional Breakthrough (2005–2010)
In late April 2003, Price formally announced his candidacy for Georgia’s 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. The seat was being vacated by Republican Johnny Isakson, who had decided to run for the U.S. Senate. Price entered a crowded Republican primary that included state senators Chuck Clay and Robert Lamutt, as well as state representatives Roger Hines and Mark Burkhalter, and former Newt Gingrich aide John McCallum. Despite running from Fulton County while most of his opponents lived in Cobb County, Price ultimately out-raised his rivals and won the primary outright with 35% of the vote. He then won the August 10 runoff against Lamutt with 54% of the vote and won the general election unopposed.
Price was sworn in to Congress in January 2005. He was re-elected to a second term in 2006 with 72% of the vote, defeating Democratic challenger Steve Sinton. In 2008, he defeated retired Air Force pilot Bill Jones with 69% of the vote. After running unopposed in 2010, Price continued to build his influence in the House, eventually being chosen to serve on the Ways and Means Committee and on the Budget Committee. By the end of this period, he had established himself as a serious policy thinker and a rising star within the House Republican Conference.
Leadership Era (2010–2017)
Price was chosen to serve as chair of the Republican Study Committee in November 2008, and two years later he was selected as chair of the House Republican Policy Committee, a position that made him the fifth highest ranking Republican in the House. In December 2012, he was named vice-chair of the Budget Committee, serving under Paul Ryan, and in November 2014, he succeeded Ryan as chair of the committee.
During this period, Price was also a major voice on health care policy. He is the sponsor of the Empowering Patients First Act, a Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act that he first introduced in the 111th Congress and has reintroduced in each Congress since. In May 2015, as House Budget Committee chair, Price released health care legislation that was described as the strongest Obamacare alternative offered in Congress to date. In 2013, the American Conservative Union gave him a 100% approval rating, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The New York Times each described him as one of the most conservative members of Congress.
HHS Tenure and Resignation (2017)
In February 2017, Price was confirmed as the 23rd Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration. His tenure at HHS, however, proved short-lived. In September 2017, Politico reported that since May 2017, Price had spent more than $1 million of department funds on private charter jets and military aircraft. Many of the flights were between cities that are easily accessible by train or car and have frequent, low-cost commercial airline service. Although the use of private planes was legal, ethics experts criticized the practice as a misuse of taxpayer funding.
On September 29, 2017, Price resigned as head of HHS. In July 2018, the HHS inspector general urged the department to recoup at least $341,000 from Price for wasteful expenditures. He is the only Trump cabinet member from the early administration to leave office over an ethics controversy, and his departure underscored the political costs of perceived misuse of public funds.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among the most notable moments of Price’s career was his 2014 elevation to chair of the House Budget Committee, succeeding Paul Ryan, and his 2015 release of sweeping health care legislation that became a focal point of the Republican debate over replacing the Affordable Care Act. His 2017 confirmation as HHS Secretary was another milestone, making him the principal steward of the nation’s largest health care bureaucracy. His subsequent resignation amid the private jet scandal marked one of the most dramatic downfalls of a senior Trump administration official.
Tom Price Career Wins
Across his decades-long political career, Thomas Edmunds Price compiled a strong record of electoral success at the state and federal levels, winning multiple elections in both the Georgia State Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Georgia Senate Highlights
Price first won his Georgia State Senate seat in 1996 with 71% of the vote and was re-elected in 1998 with 75% of the vote. He was re-elected unopposed in both 2000 and 2002, and was elected the first Republican majority leader in Georgia history in 2002. He served in the state senate from 1996 to 2005.
Congressional Highlights
Price won his first Congressional race in 2004 and went on to win re-election six times. He won 72% of the vote in 2006, 69% in 2008, 64% in 2012, and 66% in 2014. In 2010, 2012, and 2014, he ran unopposed in the primary, and he won his 2016 race against Democratic challenger Rodney Stooksbury with 61% of the vote despite spending his final term serving in the Trump administration.
Tom Price Family
Family Background and Personal Lineage
Thomas Edmunds Price was raised in Dearborn, Michigan, in a household that valued education and public service. He has been described as a dedicated family man, and his Midwestern roots continued to shape his identity even as his career took him to Georgia. Public details about his parents and early family life are limited, but he has credited his upbringing with instilling the conservative principles that have defined his political career.
Personal Life
Price married Betty Clark in 1983, and the couple has one son, Robert Price. They reside in Roswell, Georgia. Betty Price has been active in public service in her own right, having served on the Roswell City Council and being elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in a 2015 special election to succeed the late Harry Geisinger. Price is a Presbyterian. In 2014, his net worth was approximately $13.6 million, a figure that later drew scrutiny as he took on a senior role in the federal government.