US Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price has resigned.
He informed President Donald Trump of the decision on Friday.
White House said in a statement that the US President intends to appoint Don Wright in an acting capacity.
"His appointment is effective 1159pm on September 29, 2017," the statement reads in part.
Wright currently serves as the deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the disease prevention and health promotion.
Prices's resignation came after President Donald Trump expressed dismay over his use of expensive private chartered flights.
Reuters reported that the president preferred that the minister uses commercial travel.
His resignation once again shakes up Trump's team.
It is also likely to focus attention
on how the administration is managing current healthcare law after
Republicans repeatedly failed to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Price's use of private air travel -- costing about $300,000 -- was disclosed in a series of stories in Politico.
On
Thursday, Price said that it was "clear to me that in this case, I was
not sensitive enough to my concern for the taxpayer."
He said that he
would cease using private charters and that he would write a check for the expenses of his travel.
But
there were new questions raised about additional travel that Price took
on military aircraft.
Politico reported that, with White House
approval, he flew to Europe, Asia and Africa on military planes, in one
case along with his wife, at a cost of more than $500,000.
