U.S. official responsible for reforming Medicare is leaving post

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U.S. official responsible for reforming Medicare is leaving post

By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Tuesday announced the departure of the top health official responsible for reforming Medicare under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law. Jonathan Blum, Medicare director and principal deputy administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has presided over a range of reform initiatives during a five-year tenure including efforts to move the $635 billion healthcare program for the elderly and disabled away from costly fee-for-service medicine. During Blum's tenure, Medicare has seen annual per capital cost growth slow to historic lows, though analysts are divided over how much credit can be attributed to reforms ushered in by the law known as Obamacare. His resignation, announced in an internal memo from CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, follows months of controversy over two separate proposals to scale back Medicare Advantage payments to private health insurers for 2015 and to reform the program's popular Part D prescription drug benefits.

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