Insurance oversight office will move to Medicare agency

Washington -- The Dept. of Health and Human Services is undergoing a major organizational restructuring that will have an impact on the offices that oversee Medicare and health insurance companies.

HHS informed lawmakers on Jan. 5 that it will move the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, created by the health system reform law, to the auspices of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The insurance office had been established within the HHS secretary's office, and its director was Jay Angoff. Now it will become an office within CMS, renamed the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, and will be overseen by Marilyn Tavenner, CMS' principal director.

HHS describes Tavenner as "the No. 2 at the CMS who has strong private-sector health care experience." The department said Angoff was instrumental in developing the policies that launched the office and will stay as a direct report to the secretary in a senior adviser role after assisting with the transition.

According to HHS, it placed the new insurance oversight office under CMS so that certain operational elements, such as IT infrastructure, regulatory support, federal and state legislation, contracting, human resources, and communications with partners and consumers, can be shared.

"It makes sense to house this office within an operating division," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote in a Jan. 5 letter to Rep. Harold Rogers (R, Ky.), chair of the House Appropriations Committee. "It not only builds upon existing expertise in managing operations, but it also will result in a more efficient use of resources."

But the move could be designed to provide more protection to the insurance oversight office, which will scrutinize insurer behavior as the federal government implements the health reform law in the coming years. Critics of the law who are intent on dismantling it have promised to cut off funding for key elements. Defunding the oversight office could prove more difficult, given the large mandatory spending levels provided to the CMS operational budget.

HHS also updated Congress about its plan to administer the Community Living and Assistance Services and Support Act from within the Administration on Aging. CLASS, which has been criticized by reform law opponents, will administer a voluntary long-term-care financing plan that will be supported by individual premium contributions. CLASS needs a dedicated office, and the Administration on Aging is in a position to provide this support, HHS said.