Thomas A. Scully

Thomas A. Scully was the federal official who ran Medicare in 2003 under the George W. Bush administration. He was intimately involved in drafting legislation to overhaul the program, and was the object of a bidding war among five firms hoping to hire him to advise clients affected by the measure.

After the controversial bill was passed, Scully resigned. 

Involvement in health care policy
Scully was involved in negotiations to create Medicare Part D, the drug benefit for seniors. The final bill resulted in, according the Paul Krugman of the New York Times, gave the biggest give-away to "to Big Pharma: the law specifically prohibits Medicare from using its purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices." The program required that the government-paid drug benefit be administered by private insurers. Scandal surrounded the bill after it was discovered that the administration had deceived Congress about the bill's likely cost. Thomas Scully reportedly threatened to fire Medicare's chief actuary if he gave Congress the real numbers on the drug bill's cost. Scully was granted a special waiver from the ethics rules, which allowed him to negotiate for a future health industry lobbying job at the very same time he was pushing the drug bill.

Sourcewatch resources

 * Part D Medicare Drugs Price bill