WASHINGTON — President Obama has made health care his top priority. He says the cost of Medicare and Medicaid is “the biggest threat” to the nation’s fiscal future. But to the puzzlement of Congress and health care experts around the country, Mr. Obama has not named anyone to lead the agency that runs the two giant programs.The agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is the largest buyer of health care in the United States. Its programs are at the heart of efforts to overhaul the health care system. If it had an administrator, that person would be working with Congress on legislation and could be preparing the agency for a new, expanded role....
I especially like this part:
Trying to remake the health care system without a Medicare administrator is like fighting a war without a general.
“You need a general,” said Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia and chairman of the health subcommittee of the Finance Committee. Of the job vacancy, Mr. Rockefeller said: “It’s a big problem. I can’t explain it.”
Administration officials said they were searching for someone with the right mix of managerial experience and clinical expertise.
“We’re working hard to find the best fit to steer C.M.S. during this critical period,” said Reid H. Cherlin, a White House spokesman. “We look forward to nominating an administrator soon.”
Don't you trust these guys to run the US health care system.
Jimmy Carter "Finally, I'm no longer the worst president ever!"
ReplyDelete