Bipartisan Praise for an Obama Health Policy Nominee

Here’s a hint of change in the air. This week prominent Democrats and Republicans alike heaped praise on an Obama health policy nominee. Marilyn Tavenner, nominated by President Obama to head the powerful Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), sailed through a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor traveled across the capitol to introduce Tavernner and support her nomination. “I don’t think there’s any secret that I differ with the Obama administration on a number of matters of healthcare policy. But if there is anyone that I trust to try and navigate that challenge, it is Marilyn Tavenner,” Cantor said.

It’s remarkable that this could happen in a world where House Republicans have voted 39 times to repeal Obamacare, most recently in March. This is the first time in more than a decade that we’re coming close to having someone confirmed to fill the top spot at what may be the federal government’s most important healthcare agency.

Don’t expect many more miracles, but we may have just passed some sort of tipping point.

Click here to read more in The Hill, click here to read more in Politico, and click here to read more in the Washington Post.

Sun Rays Through Storm Clouds, image by Charles O’Rear / Wikimedia

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