Brooks-LaSure, the first Black woman to head CMS, leads the Biden administration’s effort to reduce the costs of health care while increasing access. In 2023, her agency will begin to implement some major changes laid out in the Inflation Reduction Act, including a provision allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. That will put her front and center in one of the biggest issues in health care—and Brooks-LaSure, who also appeared on last year’s inaugural STATUS List, is expected to take heat from House Republicans now in the majority. It’s hardly her only challenge. Now that the federal government plans to formally end the pandemic public health emergency in May, a freeze on Medicaid terminations will also expire. Without help from CMS, millions of people who enrolled during the pandemic could lose their coverage.
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