Azar is new health secretary

WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump’s second health secretary won Senate approval Wednesday. Alex Azar will take over a sprawling department shaken by his predecessor’s early exit.

The Senate voted 55-43, largely along party lines, to confirm the former drug company and government executive to join the Trump Cabinet.

Azar, 50, an Ivy Leagueeducated lawyer, says he has four main priorities for the Health and Human Services Department: help curb the cost of prescription drugs; make health insurance more affordable and available; continue bipartisan efforts to focus Medicare payments on quality; and confront the opioid addiction epidemic.

Trump’s first health chief, former Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., resigned last fall amid an outcry over his use of costly private charter aircraft for official travel. Price had been an important player in Trump’s ill-fated campaign to roll back President Barack Obama’s health law.

Price’s sudden departure created concern about the direction of the trillion-dollar department that plays a major role in the economy and accounts for about one-fourth of the federal budget. The department is responsible for health insurance programs covering more than 130 million people, drug and food safety, disease detection and prevention, and advanced medical research.

Azar had served in senior health jobs under President George W. Bush and had the support of much of the health care industry.