Sebelius issues warning about impact of GOP tactics on Medicare

Her warning, which came in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., charges that the House temporary spending measure would force the Department of Health and Human Services to stop making Medicare Payments.

The Wall Street Journal Washington Wire: Sebelius Warns On Funding For Medicare
In a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Ms. Sebelius said Republicans' tactic to shut off funding to implement the law by adding an amendment to a short-term federal spending bill could end up halting payments to providers of Medicare Advantage insurance plans. That privately run version of Medicare covers about 11 million Americans, mostly seniors (Adamy, 3/9).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Sebelius: GOP Health Care Move Would Cut Benefits
The Obama administration says a Montana Republican's long-shot effort to deny funding for the new federal health care law would prevent Medicare from paying the bills for millions of seniors — displaying the GOP's difficulty trying to unwind a law that recrafted much of the nation's health care rules (Gouras, 3/9).

Politico: Kathleen Sebelius: House CR Would Stop Medicare Payments
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is warning that the House CR would force the department to stop making Medicare payments — and Senate Republicans are saying it's just not true. It's one of the most direct clashes Republicans have had with Sebelius yet. In fact, the Senate Republican Policy Committee insists there's no reason HHS should have to stop the payments "unless the administration wishes to withhold Medicare program benefits to score political points." In a letter to Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus Tuesday, Sebelius said the House CR — which is up for a vote in the Senate Wednesday afternoon — would effectively force HHS to shut down all Medicare payments under the new rates set by the health care law. That's because the House CR has the defunding language that would keep HHS from carrying out provisions of the law (Nather, 3/9).