Chiquita Brooks-LaSure is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, having previously served as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Biden administration from 2021 to 2025.
For over twenty-five years, Chiquita has dedicated her career to ensuring that people in America can live healthy, thriving lives. With an exceptional ability to see challenges and solutions from multiple perspectives, a proven record of assembling dynamic teams, and a listen-first leadership approach coupled with clear-eyed decisiveness, Chiquita has positively transformed organizations that are making a significant impact across the nation.
As America continued to reel from the COVID-19 pandemic, President Biden appointed Chiquita as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This government agency oversees over $1.4 trillion in annual spending, provides health coverage to more than 160 million Americans, and oversees health, safety, and performance standards at over 20,000 U.S. hospitals, nursing homes, and other health facilities. An average week for the CMS administrator includes billion-dollar decisions and direct engagement with health leaders, advocates, Congressional leadership, governors, mayors, and Fortune 100 CEOs.
As administrator for CMS, Chiquita assembled and led a diverse senior staff, along with 6,000 dedicated agency employees, in delivering record-breaking results for the American people. Under her leadership, CMS doubled health coverage under the Affordable Care Act from 12 million to 24 million enrollees, expanded and strengthened Medicaid, raised maternal health standards, and led negotiations with Fortune 100 corporations to lower prescription drug prices. These negotiations are estimated to save $6 billion in overall costs and $1.5 billion for Medicare enrollees.
Chiquita also spurred groundbreaking health care solutions for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease by allowing Medicare to cover critical caregiving services and expanding access to 24/7 nursing support. Additionally, she led her team in securing agreements with biotech companies to cover groundbreaking treatments for sickle cell anemia for those in Medicaid. Under her leadership, the Biden administration concluded its term with more people covered by health insurance, lower prescription drug costs, and access to innovative health care solutions.
Earlier in her career, at consulting firms Avalere Health and Manac Health, Chiquita provided nuanced and accountable insights on Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act to leaders of health plans, hospital systems, pharmaceutical companies, and advocacy organizations. Through her thought leadership, she also spurred meaningful policy discussions on health equity and maternal health. As a legislative aide on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, she helped create key provisions and shepherd the overall passage of the Affordable Care Act. In this role, she briefed senior Congressional leaders, engaged with patient advocates, and helped drive critical consensus on this landmark law. Following the ACA’s passage, Chiquita joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create first-ever policies and regulations to ensure successful and enduring implementation of the law.
Modern Healthcare named Chiquita the most influential person in health care in 2023, and TIME magazine included her among the 100 most influential global health leaders. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, Chiquita received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University. She is married with one daughter.