Sullivan Protests Proposed Cuts in HHS Budget

Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan says millions of sick, elderly or poor Americans will suffer if proposed cuts in his budget are implemented.

The reductions would leave Sullivan’s agency unable to maintain current services in programs like Medicare and Social Security, the secretary said in a letter to the White House protesting the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed cuts. He said the result would be longer processing times for claims.

Sullivan’s letter said also that the OMB proposal would provide inadequate funds to turn more attention to prenatal care and expansion of programs to combat lead poisoning, breast cancer, tuberculosis and AIDS, as the department wants to do.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press, was sent last week to OMB Director Richard G. Darman.

A department budget official said that during the past week much progress had been made in negotiations with OMB, but he declined to give specifics. The negotiations are continuing, he said.

The letter said that cuts in funds for administration of the Health Care Financing Administration, which handles Medicare and Medicaid, and the Social Security Administration could hurt “our ability to respond to the needs of 50 million aged and disabled beneficiaries.”

Kevin Moley, HHS assistant secretary for management and budget, said that while the figure of 50 million was correct when the letter was written a week ago, it is “far fewer today than last week, and we expect to resolve those issues by the time we announce our budget.”

Moley declined to say how much money was in dispute, and the letter did not spell out the total.

Sullivan’s letter of appeal is part of the annual budget-making process. After a department drafts a budget request, OMB reviews it, makes changes and sends the resulting proposal, called a “pass back,” to the department. The department then negotiates with OMB and, if still not satisfied, may appeal to the President himself.

OMB’s “pass back” to HHS would cut Medicare by $2.7 billion in addition to the nearly $6 billion agreed to in the deficit-reduction package approved by the Administration and Congress in October.