The Trump administration's Medicaid director will depart the role as the Republicans' push to codify massive cuts to the program heats up, according to a report from Politico.
Drew Snyder is departing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for personal reasons, a person "with direct knowledge" told Politico. The source said Snyder's decision was family-related and not motivated by politics or policy changes at the CMS.
Snyder has served as director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services at the CMS since late January when the Trump administration took the White House. He was the executive director of Mississippi's Medicaid program from 2018 to 2024, per his biography on the CMS' website, which still lists him in a leadership role at the agency.
A Mississippi native, Snyder also served in other leadership roles in the state in his career, according to the CMS' site.
The Politico article says that Caprice Knapp, Ph.D., will step in to manage the Center for Medicaid in the interim. Knapp previously held the title of director for North Dakota's Medicaid program and is the Medicaid counselor to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Snyder's decision to depart the CMS comes as the Senate is taking up the GOP's "Big Beautiful Bill" that includes massive cuts to the Medicaid program. The House passed the bill shortly before Memorial Day, and experts have predicted that the Medicaid policies in particular face an uphill battle in Senate.
The potential cuts to Medicaid are likely to be a political flashpoint with voters, too, as recent polling from KFF finds that the program generally enjoys bipartisan popularity.