Administration Refuses to Release 2010 Enrollment Data for Medicare Programs

One can only wonder why the Administration is guarding this information. Could an upcoming November election and the prospect of losing a Majority in the House & the Senate when the truth is revealed be causing them to drag their feet?

From the House Energy & Commerce Committee (emphasis added)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Michael Burgess, R-Texas, ranking member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, today asked Marilyn Tavenner, acting administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to submit to Congress district-level 2010 enrollment data for Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare.

CMS traditionally provides this information to Congress but it has been 14 months since Congress last received information.

“With less than five months until open enrollment for 2011, we have serious concerns that you have not provided us with the 2010 enrollment data,” the lawmakers wrote. “We are particularly concerned by this lack of transparency since the health reform law, according to the CMS Office of the Actuary, will ultimately reduce enrollment in Medicare Advantage by 50 percent. Given this projected drastic shift in Medicare enrollment, it is important that members have the most current enrollment data for the beneficiaries in their districts in order to carefully monitor the impact of health reform on their constituents from year to year.”

A copy of the letter can be found here.

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, has also released an implementation timeline on ObamaCare. Click here for a copy