U.S. creates new CEO position for Obamacare insurance marketplace

Reuters
Sylvia Burwell testifies before a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on her nomination to be secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, on Capitol Hill in Washington May 8, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Friday announced the creation of a new chief executive position to oversee operations of the federal Obamacare marketplace that provides private health insurance to consumers in 36 U.S. states. As part of a series of management announcements, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell also announced a new permanent chief technology officer for the marketplace served by the website HealthCare.gov, which crashed on launch last October. The administration has also hired Optum Executive Vice President Andy Slavitt to serve in the new operations-focused position of principal deputy administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Eric Beech)