The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Abstract

Progress on the nation's health policy agenda, like so many other things, was interrupted by the tragic events of September 11. However, that disaster has not changed a view shared by Democratic and Republican policymakers: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly known as the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), is badly in need of repair. The federal agency is the single largest purchaser of health care in the world, with an estimated $476 billion paid for health care services in 2001 on behalf of 70 million disabled, elderly, and poor beneficiaries. In recent years, however, the agency . . .