HealthCare.gov’s top IT official leaving post

A key player in the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov is leaving his post for the private sector, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) confirmed.

Tony Trenkle serves as the chief information officer for CMS, the agency in charge of ObamaCare’s new insurance marketplaces. He will depart on Nov. 15 after eight years with the agency.

{mosads}CMS spokeswoman Julie Bataille confirmed Trenkle’s forthcoming move on Wednesday but did not respond when asked if he was fired over the disastrous online enrollment portal.

“Tony made a decision that he is going to move to the private sector,” Bataille told reporters on a call. “Given the importance of the [information technology] portfolio here, we’ve moved quickly to replace him.”

Trenkle’s exit comes at a bad time for the Obama administration as officials struggle to fix the broken sign-up website.

Both critics and allies have called for the White House to dismiss officials responsible for the flailing system, though no clear firings have taken place so far.

Democratic senators facing reelection voiced strong concerns about the rollout in a meeting Wednesday at the White House.

As the head of IT for CMS, Trenkle oversees an annual budget of more than $1 billion and highly complex claims-processing systems for Medicare and Medicaid.

He previously worked in the Social Security Administration and the General Services Administration, according to his official online biography.

Bataille said Trenkle’s position would be filled internally.