The Health Care Policy Blog is a forum for health care policy professionals and Bloomberg BNA editors to share ideas, raise issues, and network with colleagues.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
by Sara Hansard
With the release of the Obama administration's fiscal 2014 budget proposal, it has become clearer how the Department of Health and Human Services has been funding implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Both Republicans and Democrats have taken the administration to task for using the Prevention and Public Health Fund to promote ACA. The prevention fund was authorized by ACA to support disease prevention and public wellness activities.
At an April 18 hearing held by the House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee on health, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius defended using $340 million from the prevention fund for 2013 for ACA outreach and education. "In the long run, that will ensure that lots of Americans who currently have no primary health [coverage], no insurance coverage, who have no ability to get preventive care, will indeed be connected with the benefits of the Affordable Care Act," she said.
HHS also used $54 million from the prevention fund to pay for grants to "navigators" who will help people get enrolled in ACA exchange markets starting Oct. 1.
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