Senate confirms Brooks-LaSure to run health care programs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick to run U.S. health insurance programs, putting in place a key player who’ll carry out his strategy for expanding affordable coverage and reining in prescription drug costs.

Obama-era policy adviser Chiquita Brooks-LaSure will be the first Black person to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, which also administers children’s health insurance and the Affordable Care Act. Together, the programs cover more than 130 million people, from newborns to nursing home residents, and play a central role in the nation's health care system.

The Senate vote was 55-44, with five Republicans joining Democrats in approving her nomination. Brooks-LaSure had been expected to win stronger bipartisan support, but a controversy over a CMS action affecting the Medicaid program in Republican-led Texas appears to have spoiled those chances.

During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Brooks-LaSure paid homage to generations of Black women and men in public service who came before her. “Too often, they weren’t given the opportunity to live up to their full God-given potential,” she said. “But their selfless, often silent, sacrifice paved the way for me and so many other women of color.”

Brooks-LaSure, 46, has spent most of her career in government, under administrations of both parties. She served in the White House budget office during the Republican administration of George W. Bush, and worked in Congress and at CMS in senior policy roles during the Barack Obama years.

Under Biden, she'll be charged with moving toward his goal of health insurance for all Americans by building on existing programs, particularly the Obama health law. Biden's COVID-19 relief bill has...