WASHINGTON (AP) -
Government auditors Wednesday questioned the
legality of a costly Medicare bonus program, escalating a running
skirmish in the broader battle over President Barack Obama's health care
law and its consequences for seniors.
In a letter to the
administration, Government Accountability Office General Counsel Lynn
Gibson wrote that the nonpartisan agency remains concerned about
Medicare's legal authority to undertake the $8.3 billion Medicare
Advantage quality bonus program.
Launched well after the
overhaul passed, the bonus program effectively restored some of the cuts
that the legislation made to popular private insurance plans within the
giant health care program for seniors and disabled people.
The sheer size of the
bonuses immediately raised eyebrows, as did the fact that most of the
money was going to plans rated about average. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah,
called it a wasteful political ploy.
Medicare's assertion that
the program is fully legal "does not resolve our concerns," the GAO's
Gibson wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The letter coincided with a partisan House vote to repeal the health
care law. The GAO, however, is a nonpartisan agency that serves as the
investigative arm of Congress.
In a statement, Medicare
spokesman Brian Cook said there is "longstanding precedent" for such
programs "with Republican and Democratic administrations using this
authority in this way."
A spokeswoman for Hatch said the senator is weighing his options in light of new legal questions about the bonuses.
If Republicans try to take
away the money, it could backfire politically. That happened before with
Democrats on the receiving end of seniors' disapproval.
The health care law trimmed
Medicare Advantage to compensate for prior years of overpayments that
had allowed the plans to offer attractive benefits - and pocket healthy
profits. The savings were intended to help expand coverage for the
uninsured.
But Republicans attacked
those cuts during their successful campaign to take control of the House
in the 2010 elections. And seniors responded by backing GOP candidates.
After the election, the
administration announced what it called a "demonstration program" to
test whether a generous bonus program would lead to faster, broader
improvements in quality.
But earlier this year, the
GAO called on the administration to cancel the bonuses, saying the
program design is badly flawed and will not achieve its stated goal of
finding better incentives to promote quality.
The Associated Press first
reported on concerns about the bonus program last year. Administration
officials said at the time it had nothing to do with politics.
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