The Obama Administration has released its proposed federal budget for fiscal year (FY) 2011. In its budget documents, the Administration reaffirms its commitment to enacting health reform legislation, and it assumes $150 billion in federal savings attributable to health reform over the 2011-2020 period. The document states that the budget “supports health insurance reform” by expanding patient-centered health research on treatment effectiveness; increasing investment in health information technology, prevention, and wellness activities; and initiating Medicare payment reform demonstrations. Nevertheless, the budget does not outline comprehensive reform plans, nor does it repeat the sweeping Medicare and Medicaid budget savings proposals included in the Administration’s proposed FY 2010 budget. In other health policy areas, the budget would: expand funding for biomedical research, health centers for the medically underserved, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment; provide a six-month, $25.5 billion extension of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) temporary increase in federal Medicaid matching funds; expand Medicare and Medicaid anti-fraud efforts; address high-risk billing activity associated with the Medicaid drug benefit; expand Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fees; and fund an FDA to “provide regulatory pathways for new technologies such as biosimilars.”  A separate FDA press release on the budget proposal announces that the Administration is seeking $4.03 billion for the FDA in FY 2011, which is a 23% increase over the agency’s current $3.28 billion budget.  The following initiatives are the major components of the FDA’s FY 2011 budget increase:  transforming food safety ($318.3 million); Protecting Patients Initiative ($100.8 million); advancing regulatory science ($25.0 million); and tobacco-related initiatives ($215.0 million).  Note that many provisions of the proposed budget would require Congressional approval to implement. To that end, Congress is holding a series of hearings on the proposal, including Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce Committee hearings focusing on the health policy provisions of the budget. Several other budget hearings scheduled for the week of February 8 were postponed due to extreme weather conditions in the Washington, D.C. area.