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Governor Michael O. Leavitt


Self Description

March 2006: "Michael O. Leavitt was sworn in as the 20th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on January 26, 2005. As secretary, he leads national efforts to protect the health of all Americans and provide essential human services to those in need. He manages the largest civilian department in the federal government, with more than 66,000 employees and a budget that accounts for almost one out of every four federal dollars.

Prior to his current service, Leavitt served as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Governor of Utah. While at EPA, Leavitt signed the Clean Air Diesel Rule, implemented new, more-protective air quality standards for ozone and fine particle pollution and organized a regional collaboration of national significance to clean and protect the Great Lakes.

The people of Utah elected Mike Leavitt governor three times. Prior to leaving the statehouse to work in the Bush Administration, he was the nation's longest-serving governor. During his eleven years of service, Utah was recognized six times as one of America's best managed states. He was chosen by his peers as Chairman of the National Governors Association, Western Governors Association and Republican Governors Association because of his ability to solve problems across partisan lines....

Born February 11, 1951, in Cedar City, Utah, Leavitt graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics and business from Southern Utah University. He served as president and chief executive officer of a regional insurance firm, establishing it as one of the top insurance brokers in America..."

http://www.hhs.gov/about/bios/dhhssec.html

Third-Party Descriptions

November 2008: "A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds....Mr. Obama has said the proposal will raise new hurdles to women seeking reproductive health services, like abortion and some contraceptives. Michael O. Leavitt, the health and human services secretary, said that was not the purpose."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/washington/18abort.html

July 2008: "A Bush administration proposal aimed at protecting health-care workers who object to abortion, and to birth-control methods they consider tantamount to abortion, has escalated a bitter debate over the balance between religious freedom and patients' rights....Dozens of members of Congress have sent letters of protest to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, as have scores of major medical and health groups that say their supporters have sent Congress, the White House and HHS thousands of letters protesting the proposal."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073003238.html

July 2007: A bipartisan group of House members is trying to force Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to order an inspector general's investigation into allegations of religious bias and mismanagement at the spiritual ministry department in the nation's largest clinical research hospital.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072602231.html

November 2006: Republicans, and the pharmaceutical industry, say that the benefit program is working and has cost less than initially projected. More than 38 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in the program, and most say they are satisfied with their coverage, said Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/business/06drug.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Organization Mar 17, 2006
Organization Executive (past or present) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Organization Mar 17, 2006
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Leavitt Group Enterprises Organization Aug 17, 2006
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) National Governors Association (NGA) Organization Mar 17, 2006
Member of (past or present) Republican Party (U.S.) / Republican National Committee Organization Mar 17, 2006
Student/Trainee (past or present) Southern Utah University (SUU) Organization Mar 17, 2006
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Utah (State Government) Organization Mar 17, 2006
Subordinate of (past or present) President George W. Bush Person Aug 17, 2006

Articles and Resources

23 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 3]

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Sep 12, 2009 Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering (Toxic Waters)

QUOTE: in recent years, violations of the Clean Water Act have risen steadily across the nation...

 New York Times
Nov 18, 2008 Protests Over a Rule to Protect Health Providers

QUOTE: A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of objections, including a strenuous protest from the government agency that enforces job discrimination laws.

 New York Times
Jul 31, 2008 Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients' Rights: Proposal Would Deny Federal Money if Employees Must Provide Care to Which They Object

QUOTE: The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions...

 Washington Post
Jul 29, 2007 Bush Aide Blocked Report: Global Health Draft In 2006 Rejected for Not Being Political

QUOTE: A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments...

 Washington Post
Jul 27, 2007 Congressmen Seek Chaplain Probe

QUOTE: A bipartisan group of House members is trying to force Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to order an inspector general's investigation into allegations of religious bias and mismanagement at the spiritual ministry department in the nation's largest clinical research hospital.

 Washington Post
Jul 19, 2007 U.S. Targets Health-Care Fraud, Abuse: New Medicare Task Force Wins 3rd Conviction of 2007

QUOTE: Law enforcement authorities are stepping up an attack on health-care fraud that they say costs taxpayers more than $60 billion each year. FBI officials yesterday [vowed] to crack down on medical companies...pointing to 2,400 investigations in 2006 and warning that a fresh spate of cases is on the way.

 Washington Post
Jul 18, 2007 FDA Faulted In Safety Lapses: White House Orders Study of Imports

QUOTE: The Food and Drug Administration came under withering criticism by a House panel yesterday for its handling of recent food-safety violations, and the Bush administration later disclosed plans to establish a working group to review the safety of food and other imports.

 Washington Post
Jun 27, 2007 Probe Finds NIH Official Violated Government Regulations

QUOTE: A high-powered institute director at the National Institutes of Health disregarded conflict-of-interest guidelines by making decisions affecting the university where he was a faculty member, broke government spending rules, and raised concerns with his growing involvement as an expert witness in legal cases…

 Washington Post
Jun 14, 2007 Confusion Over Laws Impedes Aid For Mentally Ill: U.S. Panel Reports on Va. Tech; House Passes Gun-Control Bill

QUOTE: Because school administrators, doctors and police officials rarely share information about students and others who have mental illnesses, troubled people don't get the counseling they need, and authorities are often unable to prevent them from buying handguns, the report says.

 Washington Post
May 10, 2007 Medicare's $869 Air Mattress Bill: Government Arrests 38 As It Cracks Down On Health-Care Fraud

QUOTE: The schemes center on what prosecutors call the nation's largest hot spot for health-care malfeasance: the southern district of Florida. Over the past several weeks, federal agents visited dozens of companies there that charged Medicare for prosthetic limbs, costly AIDS drugs, air mattresses and urinary collection bags. Few if any of the products were purchased or delivered to patients in need.

 Washington Post
Jan 13, 2007 House Passes Medicare Drug Bill

QUOTE: "The House voted yesterday to require the government to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. But the measure faces an uncertain future in the Senate, a veto threat from President Bush, and considerable doubts from experts about whether it would save elderly and disabled Americans much money."

 Washington Post
Nov 06, 2006 As Drug Prices Climb, Democrats Find Fault With Medicare Plan

QUOTE: "Democrats, who have long charged that the drug industry is profiteering at taxpayers’ expense, say they want to introduce legislation to revoke the law that bars Medicare from negotiating prices directly with drug makers like Pfizer for the medicines it buys."

 New York Times
Aug 24, 2006 Morning After Pill Is Cleared for Wider Sales

QUOTE: The Food and Drug Administration today approved over-the-counter sales of the “morning-after” contraceptive pill to women 18 and older, resolving one of the most contentious issues in the agency’s 100-year history.

 New York Times
Aug 23, 2006 Bush Signs Order on Health Care: Agencies Required to Provide Data on Cost, Quality of Services

QUOTE: President Bush signed a measure Tuesday ordering federal agencies to do more to inform beneficiaries about the cost and quality of their health-care services, which federal officials hailed as a major step toward bringing greater efficiency to the nation's medical system.

 Washington Post
Aug 03, 2006 Scaling Back Changes to Medicare Payments

QUOTE: Under intense pressure from health care lobbyists and lawmakers, the Bush administration says it will scale back and delay proposed changes in Medicare payments to hospitals that would have created clear winners and losers.

 New York Times
Jul 21, 2006 HHS Secretary's Fund Gave Little to Charity

QUOTE: Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and his relatives have claimed millions of dollars in tax deductions through a type of charitable foundation they created that until recently paid out very little in actual charity, tax records show.

 Washington Post
Jul 17, 2006 Bush Administration Plans Medicare Changes

QUOTE: The Bush administration says it plans sweeping changes in Medicare payments to hospitals that could cut payments by 20 percent to 30 percent...to improve the accuracy of payment rates...the effects could be devastating.

 New York Times
Apr 07, 2006 White House Admits Lag in Bioterror Effort: House Hearing Decries Lack of a Strategic Plan

QUOTE: The Bush administration acknowledged yesterday that it still lacks a strategic plan for countering bioterror threats two years after Congress created a special program and appropriated billions of dollars for the purpose, and it pledged fresh efforts to speed up and streamline the troubled Project BioShield.

 Washington Post
Apr 05, 2006 FDA Warns Maker of Anthrax Vaccine

QUOTE: Federal drug regulators have accused a California company of breaking the law by making exaggerated claims about the purity and effectiveness of a new vaccine for anthrax...

 Washington Post
Mar 17, 2006 Medicare Rates to Be Posted

QUOTE: Within a few weeks, the Bush administration plans to publish the prices Medicare pays for common medical procedures, a move that advocates for the poor say will pressure hospitals to give uninsured patients the discounts provided to people with insurance.

 Washington Post

23 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 3]