(Reuters) — The Obama administration official who oversaw the botched rollout of the Obamacare website, Healthcare.gov, announced today that she will resign as head of the agency that also manages the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs.
"It is with sadness and mixed emotions that I write to tell you that February will be my last month," Marilyn Tavenner, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, wrote in an email to staff that was seen by Reuters.
A former nurse and hospital executive, Tavenner, 63, joined CMS in February 2010, a month before President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. She enjoyed widespread bipartisan support in Congress as a private sector leader who had also served as Virginia’s health and human resources secretary.
An administration official said Tavenner was leaving "at the right time" after her agency had hired capable new officials in leadership positions. "She’s been here for 5 years and it’s a 24/7 job," the official said.
Andrew Slavitt, a former UnitedHealth Group executive who joined CMS last year to oversee HealthCare.gov and policy coordination with other CMS programs, will replace Tavenner as acting CMS administrator, Health & Human Services Dept. secretary Sylvia Burwell said.
HealthCare.gov is now headed up by Kevin Counihan.
"Marilyn has done a great job in a very difficult position under near impossible circumstances. She has proven herself to be a strong leader and a straight shooter," Sen. Orrin Hatch, Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.
Tavenner quickly emerged as a leading figure in the implementation of Obamacare, including HealthCare.gov, which crashed on launch in October 2013 due to technical glitches and plunged Obama and his signature domestic policy into months of political crisis.
Administration officials put together a rescue operation with help from outside experts that got the website working well enough to surpass enrollment projections.
Republicans in the House of Representatives later accused Tavenner and other administration officials of misleading them about the Obamacare rollout by assuring lawmakers ahead of the launch that the website would work.
Tavenner’s nearly 2,000-word email to staff made no mention of HealthCare.gov, but focused instead on the successes of Obamacare enrollment, improved quality of care and a crackdown on Medicare fraud and abuse.
Burwell told federal staff in a separate email that Tavenner had helped shore up the finances of the ailing Medicare program for the elderly and disabled, expanded the Medicaid program for the poor, reduced deadly hospital infections and accelerated innovation.
"It’s a measure of her tenacity and dedication that after the tough initial rollout of HealthCare.gov, she helped right the ship," Burwell said.