Senate panel backs Obama nominee for Medicare/Medicaid chief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's nominee to oversee Medicare and Medicaid won the backing of a key Senate panel on Tuesday, clearing the way for a vote by the full Senate that could make Marilyn Tavenner the programs' first official administrator since 2006.

The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously to endorse Tavenner as head of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that provides health coverage to some 100 million elderly, disabled and poor Americans, while also overseeing implementation of Obama's signature healthcare reform law.

Tavenner has been running CMS as acting administrator since late 2011.

"I think she'll make a terrific administrator. One of the best," said Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the committee's Democratic chairman.

If confirmed by a full Senate vote, Tavenner would officially take the helm at a time of daunting challenges for U.S. healthcare policy. Obama's reform law is heading for full implementation on January 1 and both Medicare and Medicaid are in the political firing line for possible deficit reductions.

A nurse and former hospital company executive who also oversaw health policy in her home state of Virginia, Tavenner's private sector credentials have won vital support from Republicans. Among her backers is House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who introduced her at an April 9 confirmation hearing.

Tavenner vowed in hearing testimony to run the $820 billion Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a business.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-panel-backs-obama-nominee-medicare-medicaid-chief-145107426.html

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