Top U.S. health insurance regulator leaves for private sector

Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Director of the for Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight(CCIIO) Steve Larsen will leave his position in July to become executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum business unit.

Larsen’s position placed him as the central figure to oversee and carry out the provisions of healthcare reform, aka, the Affordable Care Act. Although the timing of Larsen’s departure suggests that he is reacting to presumed fate of the Act, which is currently pending a Supreme Court decision, CMS insider experts do not think so.