Source: White House (Pete Souza), March 2, 2009

The House continuing resolution for funding this year would force the government to stop making Medicare payments, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says.

Last month, House Republicans approved an amendment by Rep. Denny Rehberg, of Montana, to block the health care overhaul money as part of broader legislation to curb spending. The Senate was expected to vote on the package Wednesday as lawmakers struggle to find a compromise on funding to avoid a government shutdown. The GOP has little chance of killing the health care law because of support for the program from President Barack Obama and the Democratic-run Senate. In a letter Tuesday to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Sebelius explained that since the health care law repealed the old payment rates for private plans, Medicare could be left with no legal authority to continue to issue payments. She said that would risk "significant disruptions in services" to about 12.8 million Medicare recipients. The Department of Health and Human Services says many other services would be disrupted under the defunding amendment.

The Affordable Care Act replaced the old methodology the government used to pay Medicare Advantage providers, replacing it with a new one. It the new one were to be repealed, there would be no mechanism and no legal authority for HHS to make payments to cover services under Medicare Advantage.

The Senate voted down the House budget today, but don't expect the Affordable Care Act defunding effort on the part of the House to go away, and for them to drop this effort from the current brinksmanship with this year's budget and a government shutdown.