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Health secretary Kathleen Sebelius quits after botched Obamacare rollout | Health secretary Kathleen Sebelius quits after botched Obamacare rollout |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Sebelius, | |
who oversaw the creation of the Affordable Care Act and has been a | |
lightning rod for criticism over its bungled rollout, will formally make | |
the announcement on Friday. | |
Her | |
departure comes less than seven months before the midterm elections, in | |
which Democrats across the country fear they will be punished at the | |
polls over the introduction of the healthcare law, known as Obamacare. | |
A | |
White House official told the Guardian that Obama would announce | |
Sebelius’s departure at 11am on Friday. The announcement will be made in the | |
Rose Garden of the White House. Obama, standing beside his vice president Joe Biden, will announce his nomination for her replacement is Sylvia Mathews Burwell. | |
Burwell has been director of White House’s Office of Management and Budget since April. She was unaminmously confirmed in that post by Congress, a sign that Obama hopes to avoid a protracted and bruising confirmation process. | |
“Secretary | |
Sebelius notified the president in early March of her decision,” said | |
the White House official, who was not authorised to speak on the record. | |
“At | |
that time, secretary Sebelius told the president that she felt | |
confident in the trajectory for enrollment and implementation of the | |
Affordable Care Act, and that she believed that once open enrollment | |
ended it would be the right time to transition the department to new | |
leadership.” | |
The official added: “The president is deeply grateful for her service.” | |
The | |
White House will hope Sebelius’s departure will bring to an end one of | |
the rockiest chapters of Obama's presidency, which began in October | |
after the federal healthcare website – a crucial portal on which people could | |
sign up for health insurance – was beset by technical issues. | |
Millions | |
of people were unable to access the site, amid crashes and glitches, | |
and at periods it seems the fiasco would derail the entire healthcare | |
law. | |
Republicans | |
pounced on the bungled rollout of the federal law, which also led to | |
some Americans losing their insurance plans, despite being promised by | |
Obama they could keep their existing arrangements. | |
Sebelius | |
has been health and human services secretary since 2010, and her role | |
as a chief architect of Obamacare, a hugely complex piece of | |
legislation, was instrumental in the decision to keep her in post, even after the website failures. | |
The | |
timing of her departure appears to have been carefully orchestrated to | |
capitalise on the unexpectedly high numbers of people who enrolled on | |
for new healthcare plans before the deadline drew to a close last week. | |
Contrary | |
to early fears that the stuttering website and disastrous press | |
coverage would lead to insufficient numbers of uninsured people signing | |
up to under the new healthcare exchanges, Obama announced earlier this | |
month that more than 7 million people had enlisted. The figure was | |
higher than expected, providing a much need boost to Obama’s flagging | |
presidency. The White House is desperate to press home the impression it has turned a corner in the healthcare debate. | |
A | |
former governor of Kansas, Sebelius is one of Obama’s longest-serving | |
cabinet members, although their relationship has been strained by | |
the flawed rollout of the healthcare law which, despite recent | |
improvements, will leave an indelible mark on his second term in the | |
White House. | |
Hours | |
before the announcement of her departure was leaked on Thursday, | |
Sebelius appeared on Capitol Hill, where has | |
routinely been hauled before Senate and House committees for a grilling. She | |
made no mention of her intention to stand down when she appeared before | |
the Senate finance committee. Instead, she announced 400,000 more | |
people had enrolled for healthcare under the new law than first | |
reported, taking the total tally to 7.5 million. | |
The | |
additional figures were accounted for by a decision by Sebelius to | |
allow extend the deadline individuals who have had trouble signing up | |
for plans, from 31 March until 15 April. It was one of several deadline | |
extensions and last-minute changes introduced by the administration | |
in recent months to keep Obamacare afloat. | |
The | |
administration has not said how many of those who have already signed | |
up for insurance closed the deal by paying their first month’s premiums. | |
Neither have Sebelius or other senior officials said how many people | |
lost their plans because their did not meet the requirements of the ACA. | |
Despite | |
repeatedly being pressed by senators to shed more light on the figures, | |
Sebelius resisted the questioning and – much as she has over the last | |
five months – absorbed the heat on behalf of the administration. | |
By | |
appointing Burwell as her replacement, Obama has opted for an official | |
that has not been too closely associated with the creation of Obamacare, | |
although she has had a front-row seat druing rollout fiasco in her role | |
at the OMB. Previous | |
to her administration post, Burwell ran the Bill and Melinda Gates | |
Foundation, and a shorter stint as president of the Walmart Foundation. | |
She | |
was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to run the government’s crucial | |
budget department less than a year ago, potentially making it more | |
difficult for Republicans to object to her appointment. Still, | |
her confirmation process is likely to be fraught, with Republicans, who | |
advocate entirely repealing Obama’s healthcare law, determined to | |
punish the president and his party over the flawed rollout of the law. | |
“The president sought a nominee with strong credentials in management, | |
implementation, and performance for this important role,” the White | |
House official said, adding that Burwell has “a record of building | |
bipartisan consensus to get things done”. | |
Around | |
50 million Americans lacked health care coverage before the | |
introduction of Obama’s divisive healthcare reforms. The law’s passage | |
in 2010, and withstanding of a Supreme Court challenge and the 2012 | |
presidential election, make it the single most important domestic legacy | |
of Obama’s presidency. |