The top official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced her resignation today. But the official who will serve as the interim head of the agency was the subject of congressional inquiries from Republican lawmakers last year.

Marilyn Tavenner announced today that she would be stepping down from her post as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Andy Slavitt, the current principal deputy administrator at CMS, will serve as acting administrator. Slavitt’s appointment to the No. 2 spot at the agency last year raised questions about potential conflicts of interest and cronyism, as his former company received a multi-million contract to fix HealthCare.gov, and its sister company offers insurance plans on state exchanges.

If Slavitt permanently takes over as CMS administrator, he will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

Tavenner took the helm of the agency in 2011 and helped oversee the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. CMS currently oversees the health insurance exchanges the law created.

During the health care law’s disastrous launch in late 2013, Tavenner came under fire as HealthCare.gov rolled out with glitches, malfunctions and system failures. During congressional hearings exploring the causes of the failed rollout, Tavenner apologized to Congress.

Late last year, Tavenner appeared before congressional investigators once more after it was discovered that her agency had inflated Obamacare enrollment numbers. Tavenner said CMS “mistakenly” included the number of people who enrolled in dental plans as opposed to solely those who signed up for health insurance plans.

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Still, Tavenner received praise from HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell for her role in Obamacare’s implementation.

“It goes without saying that Marilyn will be remembered for her leadership in opening the health insurance marketplace,” Burwell told staff in an email.

“In doing so, she worked day and night so that millions of Americans could finally obtain the security and peace of mind of quality health insurance at a price they could afford,” she continued. “It’s a measure of her tenacity and dedication that after the tough initial rollout of HealthCare.gov, she helped right the ship, bringing aboard a systems integrator and overseeing an overall of the website.”

After Tavenner’s departure at the end of February, Slavitt will serve as interim administrator.

Tavenner appointed Slavitt, the second in command at CMS, to the post last year and oversaw the reconstruction of HealthCare.gov.

Slavitt joined the agency after serving as the group vice president for OptumInsight/QSSI. In October 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) picked the Maryland-based technology company to fix HealthCare.gov. OptumInsight/QSSI was named the lead contractor for fixing the exchange late last year.

OptumInsight/QSSI is the sister company of UnitedHealthcare. UnitedHealthcare, an insurance company, offers plans on a variety of state-run exchanges and expanded into more this year.

UnitedHealthGroup owns both companies.

HHS granted Slavitt an ethics waiver on June 11 that allowed him to begin working with his former company immediately. Without the waiver, he would have had to wait one year before participating in work involving OptumInsight/QSSI.

After HHS hired Slavitt, Republican lawmakers questioned former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about a potential conflict of interest in UnitedHealthGroup’s ownership of OptumInsight/QSSI.

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In letters sent June 20, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Orrin Hatch of Utah questioned Tavenner and UnitedHealthGroup about Slavitt’s move from Optum/QSSI to CMS.

“We would like to ensure that all potential conflicts of interest were mitigated,” they said.

Neither UnitedHealthGroup nor CMS responded.

Hatch and Grassley’s offices did not return The Daily Signal’s request for comment by the time of publication.

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