Medicare Administrator Stepping Down

WASHINGTON — Thomas A. Scully, the outspoken administrator of the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid -- the public health insurance programs for elderly, disabled and poor Americans -- said Tuesday night that he had turned in his resignation.

Scully is part of a nucleus of senior advisors to President Bush who shaped the administration’s policies on the landmark Medicare legislation that Congress passed last week.

As administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services, Scully runs a sprawling agency that acts as the nation’s largest insurance organization.

His resignation, effective Dec. 16, follows months of speculation that he would step down.

While not dismissing such talk, Scully had said that he would not depart until Congress had finished work on legislation that would add prescription drug coverage and an expanded role for private health plans to Medicare.

White House officials said Bush was scheduled to sign the bill Monday.

Scully said he had “been talking to a bunch of law firms” and planned to decide on a job in the next few weeks. He said that he had stayed in the administration almost a year longer than he intended and that he was leaving “totally for personal reasons” -- to spend more time with his three young children and find more lucrative work.

“I love the job,” Scully said. “It’s been a great experience.”

Scully, 46, held senior positions at the Office of Management and Budget in the first Bush administration.