Opinion: Making CMS nonpartisan

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services has not had the benefit of a steady, expert, fully empowered administrator since 2004. The problem, in a nutshell, is that the CMS directorship has gotten caught up in the polarized politics of health care. The most recent instance was the case of Donald Berwick, who served as a recess appointee of President Obama between July 2010 and December 2011 but could never overcome filibuster threats from Republicans trying to score points against Obamacare.