Washington, DC — Today, the Senate Finance Committee held confirmation hearings for two critical Biden administration health care nominees: Andrea Palm as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator. Both nominees demonstrated their exceptional qualifications for their posts and their deep commitment to health care. In response, Protect Our Care Chair and former Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Leslie Dach issued the following statement:
“With his selection of Andrea Palm and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure for key health care roles in his administration, President Biden is assembling the best possible team to deliver on the health care needs of Americans.
“During the Obama administration, I had the opportunity to work closely with Andrea Palm, and I know she will make an outstanding Deputy Secretary of HHS. She is a public servant through and through, and in Wisconsin she did an extraordinary job handling the pandemic by respecting the science and the facts, making the right decisions, and telling the truth to the people she served. She knows the issues and has the experience necessary to deliver for the American people.
“Chiquita Brooks-LaSure will make an excellent CMS Administrator. Her deep knowledge of the issues and her commitment to the mission of CMS make her an ideal pick. She has the experience necessary to hit the ground running as the head of CMS, and she will use that experience to lower the cost of health care, make sure more Americans get the health care they need, and address the racial inequities that permeate our health care system.”