Bernie Sanders is going after President-elect Donald Trump for his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

In a statement Tuesday, the former Democratic presidential candidate said Trump's selection of GOP Rep. Tom Price as the department's secretary went against the president-elect's campaign promises.

During the campaign, Trump said he would not touch various entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which Sanders said were "of life-and-death importance for millions of Americans."

"Now, he has nominated a person for secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price, who has a long history of wanting to do exactly the opposite of what Trump campaigned on," Sanders said. "Rep. Price has a long history of wanting to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. What hypocrisy!"

Price has a history in the health sector as an orthopedic surgeon, and has proposed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and radically change the government-sponsored insurance programs.

Price has endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan for a privatized Medicare system, which would provide a grant to Americans to buy private health insurance instead of offering care through the government.

Given Trump's promises during the campaign and Price's positions, Sanders said the president-elect should rescind the appointment.

"Mr. Trump needs to tell the American people that what he said during the campaign were just lies, or else appoint an HHS secretary who will protect these programs and do what Trump said he would do," he said.