HHS chief faces congressional subpoenas

Two House committees are demanding that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius answer questions about program spending that Republicans on Capitol Hill have called wasteful.

Upset with silence from the Obama administration, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp (R, Mich.) issued a Nov. 14 subpoena for information regarding department spending on advertisements promoting the benefits of the 2010 health system reform law. The administration has used taxpayer dollars for public relations campaigns, including television commercials during prime time.

“HHS serves as the administration’s mouthpiece spending millions of dollars to convince the American public this law is viable,” said Charles Boustany Jr., MD (R, La.), the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee chair. “HHS continues to present a misleading case that is inherently one-sided.”

The committee has made repeated requests for information, but HHS has failed to provide documents showing its role in advertising efforts, GOP lawmakers charged.

On Oct. 17, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent a subpoena order to compel Sebelius to provide information and answer questions about a Medicare Advantage bonus program. The Government Accountability Office has called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to abandon the Medicare managed care bonus program because it offers little incentive for plans to improve on quality measures.

Agency officials have defended the bonuses, and Medicare Advantage enrollment numbers have continued to rise.

Cabinet officials sometimes cite executive privilege when responding to subpoenas to appear before Congress.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/11/26/gvbf1126.htm.