The Obama administration on Tuesday announced the departure of the top health official responsible for reforming Medicare under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law. Jonathan Blum, Medicare director and principal deputy administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has presided over a range of reform initiatives during a five-year tenure including efforts to move the $635 billion healthcare program for the elderly and disabled away from costly fee-for-service medicine. His work involved two proposals that drew bipartisan opposition in Congress this year. During Blum's tenure, Medicare has seen annual per capital cost growth slow to historic lows, though analysts are divided over how much credit can be attributed to reforms ushered in by the law known as Obamacare.
