The Congressional Research Service said this month that administration efforts to keep estimates of the Medicare bill's cost from Democratic lawmakers last year probably violated federal law.
While there were several components to the video news releases, the GAO faulted the administration for distributing seemingly independent, ready-to-air reports that did not inform viewers that they came from the government.
The story packages violated the law because the government ''did not identify itself as the source of the news report," said the GAO, Congress's investigative arm.
The English version ends with a woman's voice saying, ''In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting." A man identifies himself as a reporter named Alberto Garcia in the Spanish-language version.
''The viewing audience does not know . . . that Karen Ryan and Alberto Garcia were paid with HHS funds for their work," congressional investigators said.
HHS has said it spent about $43,000 to produce the materials.
A campaign spokesman referred calls to the White House, where a spokesman declined to comment.
The promotional materials were produced under a contract with Ketchum Inc., a Washington-based public relations firm. Ketchum hired Home Front Communications, which specializes in video news releases, the GAO said.
They were distributed by CNN Newsource, a service that distributes video news releases, as well as news reports. GAO said some news executives mistook the story package for an independent news report. Congressional investigators previously examined a television ad about changes in Medicare that the administration distributed in the winter..
