Today, President Obama sent a $3.8 trillion budget blueprint to Congress outlining billions of dollars in new spending and also slashing funding for hundreds of programs and raising taxes on banks and the wealthy.

At 1:00 pm Eastern today, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and other senior HHS officials discussed the highlights of the HHS portion of the President’s proposed budget.

In the Q&A following her press briefing, many of the questions from the gallery revolved around the looming decision regarding the SGR (sustainable growth rate). Secretary Sebelius indicated the 2011 Budget assumes zero growth and, likewise the President's Budget assumes that Congress will once again institute an SGR fix so that the planned 21% cut to physician rates under the Medicare program is not implemented. She further indicated that the President's Budget assumes that SGR is fixed for the next 10 years.

Similarly, Secretary Sebelius indicated that she expected that provider rates incorporated into the rules due out this month regarding Medicare Advantage would also have a zero growth rate incorporated in their assumptions.

When asked whether the President’s 2011 Budget assumed that health reform legislation would be completed this year, Secretary Sebelius responded “No,” but went on to say that she believed that the 2011 Budget nevertheless provided a platform upon which healthcare reform to move forward.

The following is a short list of the funding highlights excerpted from the budget. For a link to the entire budget as well as the President’s message and other summary charts and tables, please reference the Nelson Mullins Healthcare Reform Library at www.nelsonmullins.com/pages.cfm/Healthcare_Library.

Funding Highlights:

• Supports health insurance reform by expanding patient-centered health research to give patients and physicians the best available information on what treatments will work the best for them; supporting investments in health information technology; expanding prevention and wellness activities; and launching payment reform demonstration programs in Medicare.
• Adds $290 million for health centers to expand health care access to the medically underserved.
• Expands support for biomedical research, by providing an increase of $1 billion for the National Institutes of Health.
• Invests approximately $1.4 billion to strengthen food safety efforts and implement core principles of the President’s Food Safety Working Group.
• Supports over 8,500 healthcare professionals in medically underserved areas through the National Health Service Corps.
• Continues a commitment to invest in the Indian health system to eliminate health disparities by increasing access to health care services among American Indians and Alaska Natives.
• Invests in our Nation’s prevention and wellness activities to improve health outcomes and lower costs, through the Federal workforce, community-based and State and local efforts.
• Invests more than $3 billion for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment activities to expand access to affordable healthcare and prevention services.
• Includes $25.5 billion for a six-month extension of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) temporary increase in the Federal Medicaid match.
• Improves preparedness by increasing funding for biodefense medical countermeasure development.
• Places a renewed emphasis on preventing, detecting, and recouping fraudulent, wasteful, and abusive payments in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
• Expands and strengthens early education and child care programs by extending the ARRA expansion of Head Start and Early Head Start, providing an increase of $1.6 billion for child care to serve 235,000 more children than could be served without the additional funds in 2011, and supporting work with the Congress to improve quality in the Child Care and Development Fund.
• Increases help for families caring for aging relatives at home.