Rockefeller welcomes Bush HCFA nominee

US President George W Bush intends to nominate Federation of AmericanHospitals president Thomas Scully as the new administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, government officials have said.

The nomination, which has to be be approved by the Senate, was welcomed by Democratic Senator John Rockefeller, who said he was "thrilled," describing 43-year-old Mr Scully as "a problem-solver" and "not ideological," reports the New York Times.

Mr Scully, who is also a director of Oxford Health Plans, worked on Pres Bush's father's presidential campaign in 1980 and was an associate director of the White House Office of Management and Budget during 1989-92, in which role he supervised spending for all federal health programs, notes the report.