The health law will cost $104 billion less over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office said after premiums for private Obamacare plans came in lower than the agency expected.
President Barack Obama thanked Kathleen Sebelius for helping pass the 2010 health-care law and named Sylvia Mathews Burwell his new health secretary, calling her a proven manager who knows how to deliver results.
After topping initial enrollment projections for PPACA, Kathleen Sebelius leaves her successor, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, an agency with numerous challenges to ultimately make the law work.
Doctors denounced the accuracy and value of data listing $77 billion in Medicare payments to 880,000 medical providers, while consumer and industry groups said it could make the health-care system more cost-effective.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Humana Inc. are among the carriers that will see their base government payment rate reduced 4 percent next year for Medicare Advantage programs for elderly Americans.
More than 1 million people waited until the last five days to sign up for 2014 health coverage under Obamacare, and early indications are that many were young minorities, insurance analysts and enrollment groups said.