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Life Health > Health Insurance > Health Insurance

Senate panel backs HHS nominee

By Alex Wayne

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(Bloomberg) — Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President Barack Obama’s choice for U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, gained the overwhelming backing of a key committee.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee voted 21-3 Wednesday to send Burwell’s to the floor of the U.S. Senate for a confirmation vote.

All Democrats on the committee voted for her, and seven of the 10 Republicans voted for her.

Pat Roberts of Kansas, John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota voted against her.

Burwell, 48, is currently the director of Obama’s Office of Management and Budget. She would succeed Kathleen Sebelius, who announced her resignation April 10 after the turbulent first enrollment period concluded for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

While 8 million Americans signed up for private coverage under the health law, enrollment was plagued by computer failures that have persisted in some states.

The board for Nevada’s health exchange voted yesterday to fire its contractor, Xerox Corp., shut down the state’s website for at least a year and join the federal healthcare.gov system. Three other states — Oregon, Maryland and Massachusetts — have made similar decisions after their enrollment systems failed.

“Ms. Burwell is highly qualified and well respected by Democrats and Republicans in government and in the private sector,” U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the Finance Committee, said before the vote. “My view is she will hit the ground running at the Department of Health and Human Services.”

Burwell will lead a government agency with a budget approaching $1 trillion a year, including the Medicare and Medicaid health programs. Her most visible job, though, will be as Obama’s chief administrator for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. She has said that making sure enrollment is smooth for 2015, which begins Nov. 15, will be a top priority.

The Senate won’t vote on Burwell’s nomination this week.

–With assistance from James Rowley in Washington.

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