Trump's scandal-hit health secretary resigns

Washington : President Donald Trump's embattled health secretary was forced out of the US administration Friday amid a scandal over his use of costly private jets for government travel.

Tom Price was the latest top official to join in a stream of steady and embarrassing exits from a White House  administration that has stumbled from one scandal or self-inflicted wound to another since Trump took power in January.

Price, a wealthy orthopedic surgeon and former lawmaker from Georgia, is the most senior official to be forced out so far.

The scandal that ultimately doomed the 62-year-old has been brewing for days, placing Trump, whose campaign pledges included one to clean up Washington wastefulness and sleaze, in an increasingly difficult position.   

The announcement of his resignation came less than an hour after Trump told reporters that Price had not offered to resign, but that his fate would be decided later Friday.

For days Price battled to keep a position he had held for less than eight months, after it emerged he had repeatedly used taxpayer funds to hire chartered jets.

In all, Price has flown on 26 separate trips this year on private aircraft, totaling some $400,000, according to Politico.

He tried to put a lid on the scandal by paying back what turned out to be a fraction of the costs.

The trips were for government business, Price's department said, but some of the flights were to destinations where the health chief owns property, or where he met relatives.

Since Wednesday calls for Price's resignation had grown louder and louder.

Price's penchant for traveling on luxury jets, Democratic Senator Patty Murray said Thursday, is "particularly shocking as you serve in an administration that routinely calls for draconian spending cuts and a reduction in government waste, and you yourself have repeatedly advocated for fiscal restraint."

Price had also been intimately involved in Trump's failed efforts to overturn Obama-era health care reforms. His forced departure can also be viewed as punishment for this failure.

With that effort now stalled in Congress, Price's replacement will have to decide whether to take measures to prop up the current system or let it fail.

Republicans say Obama's reforms are unworkable. Democrats and independent experts say Republican plans would see millions or tens of millions of people lose insurance.