Medicare is unlikely to face significant cuts if the Republican measure to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year is enacted, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.

That measure, which was passed by the House and rejected by the Senate, includes language to block implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration had alleged through much of this week that the Republican budget measure's block on implementation funding would endanger short-term funding for Medicare.

The bill would create “significant disruptions in services” to Medicare recipients, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote in a March 8 letter to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The payment delays, Sebelius wrote, would stem from the need to undertake a lengthy process to issue new regulations governing especially Medicare Advantage payment rates since the healthcare law put in place its own set of payment rate rules.

But the CBO analysis cast doubt on that assertion because it concluded that the Republican bill would reduce spending by $1.6 billion during the remainder of 2011, which is far less than would occur if Medicare Advantage payments were suspended for several months.

Democrats have responded that the CBO estimate's review of Medicare spending is a separate issue from the HHS's legal authority to spend money under the program, which the Republican law also would affect.