WASHINGTON — If President-elect Donald Trump wanted a Cabinet secretary who could help him dismantle and replace President Obama’s health care law, he could not have found anyone more prepared than Representative Tom Price, who has been studying how to accomplish that goal for more than six years.

Price, an orthopedic surgeon who represents northern suburbs of Atlanta, speaks with the self-assurance of a doctor about to perform another joint-replacement procedure. He knows the task and will proceed with brisk efficiency.

Trump has selected Price, a six-term Republican congressman, to be secretary of health and human services, according to a transition team official.

Also Monday, Trump met with David Petraeus, the highly decorated but scandal-scarred former military commander who has emerged as a new contender for secretary of state.

While some Republicans have attacked the Affordable Care Act without proposing an alternative, Price has introduced bills offering a detailed, comprehensive replacement plan in every Congress since 2009, when Democrats started work on the legislation.

In debate on the Affordable Care Act in 2009, Price decried “a stifling and oppressive federal government,’’ a theme that pervades his politics. His most frequent objection to the law is that it interferes with the ability of patients and doctors to make medical decisions.

Price, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said he believes events had borne out his warnings about the health law. “Premiums have gone up, not down,’’ he said. “Many Americans lost the health coverage they were told time and time again by the president that they could keep. Choices are fewer.’’

As secretary, Price would be responsible for a department with an annual budget of more than $1 trillion, health programs that insure more than 100 million Americans, and agencies that regulate food and drugs and sponsor much of the nation’s biomedical research.

Price, 62, has long been a voice for doctors, often aligned with the positions of the American Medical Association.

His intimate knowledge of Medicare could serve him well. Paying doctors and regulating their work are among the most important responsibilities of the secretary of health and human services. The government is carrying out a big new law that changes how doctors are paid under Medicare, and Medicare often serves as a model for private insurers.

On the other hand, as secretary, Price would need a broader perspective. He would also have to consider the needs of Medicare beneficiaries, Medicaid patients, and taxpayers who finance those programs.

In Trump’s meeting with Petraeus, the two talked for about an hour. After, Trump tweeted he ‘‘was very impressed.’’

Petraeus said Trump ‘‘basically walked us around the world, showed a great grasp of a variety of the challenges that are out there and some of the opportunities as well. Very good conversation.’’

Petraeus’s sharing of information with Paula Broadwell during their affair led to criminal charges against him and his resignation as CIA director.

Trump will also hold a second meeting with Mitt Romney, who has become a symbol of the divisions agitating the transition team. The Washington Post reported the two would have dinner together Tuesday.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.