And the Lords of Leaping keep leaping. Breaking news on Friday last week reported the CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner will leave her post at the end of February. Number 2 at CMS, Andy Slavitt will be the interim Administrator until a replacement is named and confirmed. Slavitt came from the UnitedHealth Group where he was executive vice president of their Optum division.
Read the captured quotes from the industry from leading news sites.
CNBC Health Care News – Top Obamacare official Tavenner calls it quits, by Dan Mangan
In an email to CMS staff Friday, Tavenner wrote, “It is with sadness and mixed emotions that I write to tell you that February will be my last month serving as the administrator for CMS. I have great pride and joy knowing all that we have accomplished together since I came on board five years ago in February of 2010.”
Forbes – Industry-Friendly Obamacare Implementer Marilyn Tavenner To Resign, by Bruce Japsen
“Marilyn leaves behind a legacy of leadership at a time of unprecedented change in our health care system,” said Karen Ignagni, chief executive of America’s Health Insurance Plans
The Washington Post Wonkblog – CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner is stepping down, by Jason Millman
“It goes without saying that Marilyn will be remembered for her leadership in opening the Health Insurance Marketplace,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell wrote in a separate email to staff. “In so doing, she worked day and night so that millions of Americans could finally obtain the security and peace of mind of quality health insurance at a price they could afford. It’s a measure of her tenacity and dedication that after the tough initial rollout of HealthCare.gov, she helped right the ship, bringing aboard a systems integrator and overseeing an overhaul of the website.”
Bloomberg News – Medicare Chief to Resign After Obamacare Stumbles and Recovery, by Alex Wayne
“Marilyn decided to leave after devoting the last five years and countless hours to fulfilling CMS’s mission,” spokeswoman for her agency, Lori Lodes said. “The organization is stronger and in a better place than when she joined it.”
“Tavenner had to go,” Issa said in a statement today. “She presided over HHS as it deceptively padded the Obamacare enrollment numbers.”
New York Times – Head of Medicare and Medicaid Is Stepping Down, by Robert Pear
“Marilyn has done a great job in a very difficult position under near impossible circumstances,” Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and chairman of the Finance Committee said. “She has proven herself to be a strong leader and a straight shooter who brought a much-needed private sector sensibility into the agency.”
The Wall Street Journal – Top Health Official Marilyn Tavenner to Step Down, by Louise Radnofsky
Tom Scully, who had served as the CMS administrator for three years during the Bush administration, said Ms. Tavenner had been thinking about leaving for around six months. “Five years is a long time, and I can’t imagine anyone doing that job for five years,” he said.
The Huffington Post – Key Obamacare Official Stepping Down
“When bad information from the bottom meets unrealistic expectations from the top,” one health care lobbyist sympathetic to Tavenner told HuffPost, “bad things happen to the person in the middle.”