Brooks-LaSure Confirmed as CMS Head

WEDNESDAY, May 26, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Chiquita Brooks-LaSure was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday as the new head of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Brooks-LaSure, an Obama-era policy adviser, will be the first Black person to lead CMS, which also administers children’s health insurance and the Affordable Care Act, the Associated Press reported. Five Republicans joined Democrats in approving her nomination in a 55-44 vote.

The 46-year-old Brooks-LaSure has spent most of her career in government. She served in the White House budget office during the Republican administration of George W. Bush and worked in Congress and at CMS in senior policy roles during the Obama years. Throughout her career, Brooks-LaSure has worked on Medicaid policy, and that program has now grown to become a mainstay of coverage for many low-income working people.

Brooks-LaSure will play an important role in President Joe Biden’s efforts to expand affordable coverage and control prescription drug costs, according to the AP. Part of her portfolio will include reviewing — and amending or rolling back — a series of Trump administration changes to health insurance rules. Under Trump, the CMS tried to promote the sale of cheaper private insurance that offered less coverage than plans sold under the Affordable Care Act.

Associated Press Article