U.S. Senate confirms new Health and Human Services secretary

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Alex Azar as the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with a vote of 55-43.

"With experience both on the company side and the government side of health care, he is now only more experienced and knowledgeable," Finance Committee chairman Senator Orrin Hatch said on the Senate floor.

Azar, 50, had previously served as general counsel and then as deputy secretary of the HHS in the George W. Bush administration. He had until early last year served as president of global pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly USA.

During his confirmation hearing in early January, Azar said that dealing with high drug prices would be a priority, along with making health care more affordable, improving medicare through technology and tackling the opioid epidemic.

When announcing Azar's nomination in November, U.S. President Donald Trump praised him as "a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices."

The HHS is one of the largest non-defense agencies in the federal government, with an annual budget of over 1 trillion U.S. dollars and nearly 80,000 full-time employees.

Azar's confirmation came almost four months after former secretary Tom Price resigned over his extensive use of taxpayer-funded charter flights. Enditem