Senate panel backs HHS nominee

The board for Nevada's health exchange voted yesterday to fire its contractor, Xerox Corp., shut down the state's website for at least a year and join the federal healthcare.gov system. Three other states — Oregon, Maryland and Massachusetts — have made similar decisions after their enrollment systems failed.

"Ms. Burwell is highly qualified and well respected by Democrats and Republicans in government and in the private sector," U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the Finance Committee, said before the vote. "My view is she will hit the ground running at the Department of Health and Human Services."

Burwell will lead a government agency with a budget approaching $1 trillion a year, including the Medicare and Medicaid health programs. Her most visible job, though, will be as Obama's chief administrator for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. She has said that making sure enrollment is smooth for 2015, which begins Nov. 15, will be a top priority.

The Senate won't vote on Burwell's nomination this week.

–With assistance from James Rowley in Washington.

See also:

• Senate Finance meets, greets HHS nominee
• 6 reviews: The Sylvia Mathews Burwell Nomination Show
• Burwell defends PPACA at Senate hearing