U.S. health officials launched an investigation into Humana after the Louisville-based company mailed a letter to patients enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans, alerting them that President Obama’s health overhaul could eliminate important benefits of the program.
FOXNews.com
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The federal government resorted to bullying tactics when it ordered an investigation of Humana — one of the country’s biggest private insurers — for its decision to send customers a letter alerting them about pending health reform legislation, a leading Republican charged Wednesday.
U.S. health officials launched the probe after the Louisville-based company mailed a letter to patients enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans — private options that replace standard Medicare — warning that President Obama’s health overhaul could eliminate important benefits of the program.
Humana said in its letter that if Medicare Advantage funding gets cut, “millions of seniors and disabled individuals … could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.”
Republican Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell blasted the investigation of Humana on Wednesday, calling it a “federal gag order” that seeks to silence a health provider that disagrees with the administration. McConnell said he’s called for a complete legal justification of the probe.
“This is so clearly an outrage,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “For explaining to seniors how legislation might affect them, the federal government has now issued a gag order on that company, and any other company that communicates with clients on the issue, telling them to shut up — or else.
“This is precisely the kind of thing Americans are worried about with the administration’s health care plan. They’re worried that government agencies which were created to enforce violations even-handedly will instead be used against those who voice a different point of view,” he said…
…A Republican aide told FOXNews.com that the investigation is a clear breach of First Amendment rights and said the Republican leader is asking the CMS to provide legal justification for its investigation. The aide said CMS’s investigation follows a pattern of intimidation put forth by the administration for any kind of dissent in the health care debate…
…House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., has called on CMS to provide additional information on the so-called gag order, including the person or persons who authorized the agency to issue it.
“I have never seen anything like this and I question if politics was the deciding factor,” Camp said in a press release. “Given that the administration has failed for more than eight months to nominate a director for CMS, I wonder if undue political pressure may have been applied on the CMS staff…
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