GOP senators seek Sebelius ACA fundraising probe

Senate Republicans have intensified their calls for scrutiny of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' efforts to raise money from private donors to help implement the healthcare reform law.

On Thursday, the ranking members of three influential Senate committees formally asked HHS' inspector general's office to examine whether Sebelius overstepped any legal or ethical bounds.

This past month, lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have questioned whether Sebelius violated federal law by soliciting funds from the private sector for Enroll America, a private group that works to inform Americans about enrolling in health insurance coverage.

“These activities call into question whether appropriations and ethics laws are being followed,” Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wrote in their letter to HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson. “The Antideficiency Act prohibits entering into contracts or obligations or accepting voluntary services for the United States in excess of available appropriations," they continued, adding that the Office of Government Ethics rule prohibits an official from fundraising of any person or group that the official regulates.

House and Senate GOP lawmakers earlier this month requested a Government Accountability Office probe into the matter, and House Energy and Commerce leaders have sought information about HHS' activities from more than a dozen insurers and America's Health Insurance Plans.

In mid-May, an HHS spokesman told Modern Healthcare in an e-mail that Sebelius has made fundraising calls on behalf of Enroll America to two organizations—the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and H&R Block—and he emphasized that neither organization is regulated by HHS. A spokeswoman repeated that statement in an e-mail Thursday, and also reiterated that the department has not solicited funds from any organization it regulates. Enroll America is led by Anne Filipic, who left her role as deputy director of public engagement at the White House earlier this year to become the organization's president.

Hatch is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. Alexander is the senior Republican on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, as is Coburn on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

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