Republicans criticize CMS brochure on Medicare improvements

The Washington Post: "As the secretary of health and human services explains it, the government has an obligation to spread the word about the new health-care law. To that end, the department spent millions of dollars printing a glossy brochure and mailing it this week to 40 million Medicare beneficiaries detailing what Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called 'the facts.' Among the facts: There are 'Improvements in Medicare You Will See Right Away.' ... Not surprisingly, Republicans see it differently. In Washington's political hothouse, one person's recitation of the facts is another's 'gross misuse of taxpayer funds to provide biased information for political purposes.' That's the way Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and several colleagues put it."

"The bitter year-long battle over health-care legislation has become an inch-by-inch, word-by-word war for public opinion in which features of the legislation are being trumpeted, spun, counter-spun, and spat upon. It's a contest in which no boast goes unanswered, and no sign of progress is too small to ballyhoo" (Hilzenrath, 5/28).

McKnight's Long Term Care News: "Republican Senate leaders called it a waste and inappropriate use of taxpayer money in a letter sent to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. In the letter, the lawmakers asked for information about the White House's involvement in the brochure, as well as its cost" (5/28).

KHN published the full text of the brochure (5/28).