Bush Appoints Virginia Health Department Head as HHS Deputy Secretary
The White House Friday announced the nomination of Claude Allen, Virginia's secretary of health and human resources, as deputy secretary of HHS, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The position "typically is the hands-on manager for [the] department" (Hardin/Whitley, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3/24). Allen, "one of the most senior African Americans in [Virginia] state government" and a "fervent conservative," has headed the health department since 1998, with oversight of 13 agencies, 16,000 employees and a $6.5 billion-year budget. Saying that Virginia's "loss is certainly the nation's gain," Gov. James Gilmore (R) "prais[ed]" Allen's work on patients' rights, child health insurance and mental health initiatives.
'Lightning Rod'
The Washington Post reports that Allen has been a "lightning rod for criticism" since taking over in Virginia, and that he has "angered" Republicans in the legislature and health industry advocates, who call him "too ideological or unresponsive" to the state's "mounting" health care needs (Melton, Washington Post, 3/24). He has been criticized for not enrolling "enough" children in the state's CHIP plan, for "not solving" the state's "mental health problems" and for "alleged poor management" of the Department of Social Services. Allen said Friday that 30,000 children were enrolled during his tenure and that the state has been "recognized nationally" for its "attention" to mental health (Richmond Times Dispatch, 3/24).
