Week ahead: GOP gunning for Sebelius on ObamaCare

ObamaCare will dominate the agenda this week as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and one of her chief deputies testify before Congress on the law’s troubled online enrollment system.

Sebelius is scheduled to speak before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday after days of wrangling with GOP leadership.

Republicans have called for Sebelius to resign over the botched website launch and will be pressing her to reveal when she knew that HealthCare.gov would stumble out of the gate.

{mosads}The day before, Republicans on the committee will hear from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

Tavenner is arguably much closer to the exchanges’ day-to-day implementation and might be able to provide more specific details about why the rollout was so rocky.

Lawmakers are likely to ask about HHS’s role as a “systems integrator” for the website, putting together products from different contractors in order to create the final website.

Critics have suggested that federal health officials should not have taken on such a role, which in private industry would be reserved for professionals with greater technical prowess.

The final major ObamaCare event for the week will come on Wednesday, when Mike Hash, head of HHS’s Office of Health Reform, briefs House Republicans on the rollout.

Hash was originally scheduled to deliver a similar briefing last week to House Democrats, but he was replaced by CMS official Gary Cohen and communications director Julie Bataille.

ObamaCare won’t be the only major healthcare topic on Capitol Hill this week.

The newly created House-Senate budget conference committee will hold its first official meeting on Wednesday to chart a path toward what supporters hope will be an agreement in the coming months.

Also on Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold an executive session to consider several pieces of health legislation, including the Children’s Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will hold its second annual Health Care Summit the same day at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, an event focused on the best strategies for improving cost and quality across the healthcare system.

Chamber President Tom Donohue, CVS Caremark President Larry Merlo and Institute of Medicine President Harvey Fineberg are scheduled to speak.