Senators conducting the hearing said they expect to vote on her appointment as early next week, following an amicable response to her performance so far from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. That makes her likely to gain a majority of the full Senate’s approval when her appointment comes to a vote, which would make her the first approved head of the agency since Mark McClellan, MD, who served from 2004 until 2006, according to a report by Politico.
Committee members urged more frequent and transparent communication from CMS on health law implementation and costs, to which she agreed to provide biweekly updates. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) pressed her especially hard on allegations that the agency had leaked a policy decision to raise Medicare Advantage rates next year to “political insiders,” who shared the information with investor clients before the decision was public, leading to a large rally in health insurance stocks late last week.
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