A week after a three-hour grilling by House Republicans, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner will pay a visit Nov. 5 to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The Senate panel intends to debate the way forward for enrollment in health plans sold in the new marketplace HHS manages on behalf of 36 states. Tavenner was unable to provide much information last week on the status of enrollment and said the CMS was unlikely to know more before mid-November.
She might hope for a friendlier reception from the Senate panel, led by healthcare reform booster Tom Harkin—even though the Iowa Democrat at one point blocked her path to the top CMS job. (Harkin put a hold on her nomination to protest the Obama administration’s use of money from the reform law’s prevention and public health fund to promote enrollment in the insurance exchanges.)
The ranking Republican on the Senate panel is Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who called last week for HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to resign over the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, the Web portal for insurance enrollment.
