US President Joe Biden is expected to be nominating former
administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) soon, as per a report by CNN. Earlier under the Obama
administration, she was a top official in the agency, having worked for enactment
of the Affordable Care Act (2010). Presently, however, Brook-LaSure would require
confirmation from the US Senate.

If confirmed to lead the agency, she could turn into a key
player in executing Biden’s promise in re-establishing Affordable Care Act as
well as strengthening Medicaid.

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The agency supplies more than 145 million Americans with
their health plans through its various programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid,
Children’s Health Insurance Program as well as the Affordable Care Act.

Currently serving as the Managing Director of Manatt Health,
in case of being put in charge of the CMS, she would have to work and
supposedly make amends to or overturn several policies issued by Seema Verma,
her predecessor in the designation, who served as the head of CMS for about
four years and under whose ambit, the agency cut funding allocated to Obamacare,
as well as opting for private brokers instead of non-profit entities for accessing
coverage plans.

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Some of Verma’s steps, such as allowing states to direct persons
with low incomes to work in order to avail the benefits, have been deemed quite
controversial.

Brooks-LaSure, in case appointed, would follow the earlier
nomination of Xavier Becerra as Health and Human Services Secretary in the Biden-cabinet,
although he is awaiting confirmation as of now.