WASHINGTON (TNND) — Dr. Mehmet Oz was confirmed to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in a 53-45 vote on Thursday.

The Senate's vote will allow the 64-year-old to manage health insurance programs, with oversight of Medicare, Medicaid or Affordable Care Act coverage.

Oz is a former heart surgeon and former daytime TV host.

During a hearing last month, he told senators that CMS presents a "monumental opportunity" to make the country healthier while adding "We have a generational opportunity to fix our health care system and help people stay healthy for longer."

He also told the Senate Finance Committee that America is struggling with soaring healthcare costs and higher obesity rates compared to other countries.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho commended Oz.

"Dr. Oz has a strong desire to modernize CMS and encourage healthy lifestyles for all Americans, including by focusing on the underlying causes of chronic disease and implementing innovative technologies," Crapo wrote on X Thursday.

The Associated Press reports that Oz has formed a close relationship with his new boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He's hosted the health secretary and his inner circle regularly at his home in Florida. He's leaned into Kennedy's campaign to "Make America Healthy Again."

Oz will take over CMS days after the agency was spared from the type of deep cuts that Kennedy ordered at other public health agencies. Thousands of staffers at the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the National Institutes for Health are out of a job after mass layoffs that started Tuesday.

CMS is expected to lose about 300 staffers, including those who worked on minority health and to shrink the cost of health care delivery.

Editor's Note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.