Tavenner To Leave CMS; Burwell Lays Out ‘To Do’ List With GOP Lawmakers
Marilyn Tavenner, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, announced that she will resign at the end of February. Meanwhile, despite disagreements over the health law, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell lists possible areas of cooperation with the GOP, such as on opioid abuse, Ebola and medical research and innovation.
Huffington Post:
Key Obamacare Official Stepping Down
Marilyn Tavenner will resign as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, effective at the end of February, officials in President Barack Obama’s administration told The Huffington Post. Andrew Slavitt, the agency’s second-ranking official, will take over in an acting capacity. An announcement is planned for Friday. Tavenner is the latest high-profile resignation after the botched early implementation of the Affordable Care Act. (Cohn and Young, 1/16)
Bloomberg:
Medicare’s Tavenner To Depart After Obamacare Error Revealed
Marilyn Tavenner, head of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, plans to step down at the end of February, she told her staff in an e-mail. ...In November, Tavenner acknowledged that her agency had made a mistake in its calculation of the number of people enrolled under Obamacare. About 393,000 individuals with both health and dental coverage were “inadvertently counted twice,” she said in a letter to Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican whose committee discovered the error. (Wayner, 1/16)
The Wall Street Journal:
Top U.S. Health Official Marilyn Tavenner To Step Down
Marilyn Tavenner, the top official at the U.S. agency overseeing the troubled rollout of the health law and the Medicare insurance program for the elderly, is leaving her post in February, agency officials confirmed Friday. (Radnofsky, 1/16)
The New York Times:
Head Of Medicare And Medicaid Is Stepping Down
Ms. Tavenner ... had given no public indications that she would be stepping down. She joined the administration in February 2010, a few weeks before President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. (Pear, 1/16)
In other HHS news -
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
Burwell Lists Likely Common Ground With GOP, But Not The Health Law
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell headed to a left-leaning think tank Thursday to say she was offering a olive branch to the new Republican-led Senate. “I count myself among those who do not believe that disagreements in some areas – even significant disagreements – should prevent us from moving forward on others,” Ms. Burwell said at the New America Foundation. (Radnofsky, 1/15)
Kaiser Health News:
Burwell Calls For Congress To Work With Her On Health Issues
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell Thursday called on Congress to look beyond the Affordable Care Act to find compromise on health care. In remarks at the New America Foundation, Burwell cited several areas – including opioid abuse, Ebola, medical research and innovation – where Republicans and Democrats have sponsored legislation to work together to solve problems in the nation’s health care system. (Carey, 1/15)
The Hill:
Burwell Urges GOP To 'Move Beyond' ObamaCare Arguments
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on Thursday promised a "vigorous" defense of ObamaCare this Congress as she outlined policy priorities she said could receive bipartisan support, such as addressing prescription drug abuse and accelerating the development of medical cures. She also downplayed Republican plans to target pieces of the healthcare law now that the GOP is in control of both chambers on Capitol Hill. (Viebeck, 1/15)
