Obamacare Oversight Office Folded into Medicare Agency

[Norwayguy]

HHS Insurance Oversight Office To Become Part Of Medicare Agency : Shots - Health News Blog : NPR

A health reform office charged with overseeing the insurance industry is about to be folded into the federal Medicare agency, signaling a major organizational shift just months after the office wa
Donald Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, made the announcement to staffers Wednesday, officials at both the Medicare and insurance oversight agencies told Shots.
The Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight was created to guide the implementation of key parts of the health overhaul law. Its director, Jay Angoff, a class-action litigator who took on insurance companies, was appointed to lead the group in April.

Staffers were told Angoff would be stepping down from the helm of the oversight agency to become a senior adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The office will become the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Medicare agency, and will be managed by Marilyn Tavenner, Medicare's deputy administrator. No staff cuts were announced.
One possibility is the administration is seeking shelter for its embattled health programs in the larger Medicare agency. Republicans, who this week won control of the House, have scheduled a vote on repealing the health law for Jan. 12 and threatened to defund individual programs if the repeal effort fails, a likely outcomes created.

I know this is probably a defensive move but it kinda creeps me out that this has been rolled into Medicare....Government programs and agencies have a way of creeping and taking on more and more.

 

[somarco]

Berwick was the sneak-him-in-while-Congress-is-in-recess appointment that never went through the vetting process. Good chance he would have performed worse than Bork had he been subject to the normal process.

As such he has a year before he can be touched unless someone finds him in bed with a live boy or dead prostitute.

CMS lacked a head for over 2 years but then Obama decided not only did they need someone to run it but someone who had such a sordid past (he LOVES the NHS and single payer) but wanted to make sure Berwick would not be subject to scrutiny.

With Shebullshits and Berwick running things the American public is about to get screwed unless someone stops them.

 

[HealthGuy]

Allenmark: Call Obama. He has a plan for you now. Hope your call wait time at the White House isn't too long. I heard that government bronze plan is really great.