Cindy Mann to lead Center for Medicaid and State Operations

CQ HealthBeat reports on reactions to Cindy Mann’s appointment as Director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, noting that liberals are hailing her appointment and "saying she'll counter steps taken by the Bush administration to tighten eligibility and alter benefits."

On May 29, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appointed Mann to the position, which is part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and which "oversees the federal part of both the Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program." CQ HealthBeat reports that "Mann’s predecessor at the helm of CMSO, Dennis Smith, took steps to control spending in the Medicaid program that angered the left. Republicans in particular have emphasized that Medicaid is unsustainable financially in its current form” (Reichard, 6/1).

Meanwhile, an HHS press release said "Mann most recently served as a research professor and executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute." It also noted that "Mann previously served as director of the Family and Children’s Health Programs at CMSO from 1999-2001; in that capacity she played a key role in implementing Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program."