If the recent scandals related to the Internal Revenue Service, the Benghazi attack aftermath, and the search for government leakers isn’t enough for you, there’s a nice juicy health care scandal in the mix, too.
A handful of congressional committees are investigating telephone calls made by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to help bolster the work of the nonprofit group Enroll America. At a congressional hearing held June 4, Ms. Sebelius got specific about what she did and did not do and why she thinks it’s not only legal, but also ethical.
Photo by Eric Bridiers/ U.S. Mission Geneva
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Ms. Sebelius made five phone calls as part of ongoing effort to engage private partners in fostering enrollment in the health insurance exchanges coming online later this year. Ms. Sebelius said that three of the calls were to organizations regulated by HHS: Ascension Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Johnson & Johnson. She did not ask any of these organizations to give money but did discuss with them the virtues of Enroll America, she told lawmakers. However, she testified that she did ask officials at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and H&R Block, organizations not regulated by HHS, to contribute to Enroll America, although she didn’t suggest a particular dollar figure.
Ms. Sebelius said she was within her legal rights under the Public Health Service Act to solicit funds for the effort from any organization, even those regulated by her agency. However, she said she drew her own line where she felt it to be proper.
While the Secretary’s testimony provided some clarity on the situation, Republicans in Congress are far from satisfied with her explanation. They are expanding their investigations into who else made calls on behalf of Enroll America and if anyone in the White House was involved in the decision to steer money that way.
Grilling Ms. Sebelius isn’t the only item on the congressional agenda. Lawmakers are also moving forward with plans to permanently replace Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate formula. The House GOP is pushing draft legislation that would put a greater emphasis on quality of care. But some detractors say it relies too much on the existing fee-for-service system. Either way, lawmakers say they will have a bipartisan bill on the president’s desk in just a few months.
Check out this week’s Policy & Practice podcast for all this and more on the adoption of electronic health records.
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
On Twitter @MaryEllenNY