The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Trump nominee Alex Azar to be the next Health and Human Services secretary.
Azar, who was confirmed 55-43, is a former health official at HHS, where he served as deputy secretary under former President George W. Bush. He also is a former top executive for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly.
He has cited several priorities in his new role, including lowering the price of health insurance for Obamacare customers, tackling the opioid epidemic, and finding ways for healthcare providers to be reimbursed based on patient outcomes rather than the number of tests or procedures that they run.
He also vowed during his confirmation hearings that his top priority would be to tackle high prices of prescription drugs, fulfilling a promise Trump had stated often during his campaign for office.
But Democrats who voted against him raised concerns about how his former pharmaceutical ties would affect his ability to carry out his promise. During hearings, Democrats pointed to several price increases that occurred while Azar was at Eli Lilly. Chief among them was the bone growth drug Forteo, which more than doubled in price from $1,032 to $2,728.
On the Senate floor prior to the vote, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., urged her colleagues to vote against Azar, saying he was not an acceptable choice. She cited his relationship with drug companies as well as his support for repealing Obamacare, among other objections.
The HHS secretary position became vacant after Dr. Tom Price resigned from the role in late September, following a Politico investigation that showed the government paid more than $1 million for his travel on charter jets.
Acting Secretary Eric Hargan has been overseeing the department in the absence of a secretary and will return to his post as deputy secretary, the second-in-command role at HHS.
