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HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius resigns

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius resigns

"WASHINGTON — After a difficult five years shepherding President Obama's signature health care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has tendered her resignation, according to two senior administration officials."

I liked this one from, I think, the Washington Post:
“Secretary Sebelius was asked to promote something unready, poorly structured, and unpopular,” Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) said in a statement. “She was given a law that was just about written in pencil the way the deadlines changed all the time. That put her in a position of having a strained relationship with Congress. It’s disingenuous for the White House to distance itself from the problems and attribute them to partisan sniping at one member of the Administration. The next secretary might have a fresh start with the public and Congress but the flawed law is still the law.”
 
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius resigns

"WASHINGTON — After a difficult five years shepherding President Obama's signature health care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has tendered her resignation, according to two senior administration officials."

Let's see which Democrat flak is stupid enough to put their name forward as her replacement. Think Obama will be able to find one in his last 32 months? Maybe he'll issue an executive order declaring that a Secretary of HHS is not required for the next 2 and a half years.
 
We should only hope that she is without a job and needs to sign up for Obamacare.
 
Reminds me of GM putting two engineers on paid leave due to business decisions that were made by management. Always has to be a head that rolls to appease the masses, then its back to business as usual.
 
Let's see which Democrat flak is stupid enough to put their name forward as her replacement. Think Obama will be able to find one in his last 32 months? Maybe he'll issue an executive order declaring that a Secretary of HHS is not required for the next 2 and a half years.

It probably depends on how much of a kickback Sebelius recieves for carrying the admin's water the last 5 years.
 
Let's see which Democrat flak is stupid enough to put their name forward as her replacement. Think Obama will be able to find one in his last 32 months? Maybe he'll issue an executive order declaring that a Secretary of HHS is not required for the next 2 and a half years.

Obama Budget Director Sylvia Burwell is apparently going to replace the failure named Sebelius.
 
Let's see which Democrat flak is stupid enough to put their name forward as her replacement. Think Obama will be able to find one in his last 32 months? Maybe he'll issue an executive order declaring that a Secretary of HHS is not required for the next 2 and a half years.
Is Obama actually required to fill federal postings?
 
Is Obama actually required to fill federal postings?

I don't know the answer to that question - as a cabinet position that requires Senate confirmation I'd presume it would have to be filled but I guess it is at the discretion of the President when and if he submits a nominee for consideration. Since his recess appointment trick was thrown out by the courts recently, he can't go that route. Perhaps someone else has an answer.
 
Should be an interesting confirmation hearing.

SOS, just a different face! Why don't they try someone with business experience? What does "budget" credentials have to do with getting people to sign up for health insurance? Most people are concerned with their personal budgets, not the government's budget. Sounds like a harder line to force people into compliance is being considered. This should be interesting!

Good morning, CJ. :2wave:
 
Considering the effort the Republicans put into obstructing and obfuscating PPACA, Kathleen Sebelius did a magnificent job. She put millions of Americans on the road to health care even though the Republicans did everything they could to stop them from getting it.
 
Considering the effort the Republicans put into obstructing and obfuscating PPACA, Kathleen Sebelius did a magnificent job.
She put millions of Americans on the road to health care
even though the Republicans did everything they could to stop them from getting it.


"on the road to healthcare" ... good one ... mustn't let the meme get stale ... that's one I hadn't heard ...

obama with sibelius 2.jpg
 
Obama Budget Director Sylvia Burwell is apparently going to replace the failure named Sebelius.
I love how conservatives define failure. In reality, conservatives suffer from disaster delusions.

Obamacare has exceeded predictions. The nonpartisan RAND Corporation released a study estimating “a net gain of 9.3 million in the number of American adults with health insurance coverage from September 2013 to mid-March 2014.” Some failure.

Even in Mitch McConnell's own state, Obamacare Cuts Kentucky's Uninsured Rate By 40 Percent. Some failure.
 
I love how conservatives define failure. In reality, conservatives suffer from disaster delusions.

Obamacare has exceeded predictions. The nonpartisan RAND Corporation released a study estimating “a net gain of 9.3 million in the number of American adults with health insurance coverage from September 2013 to mid-March 2014.” Some failure.

Even in Mitch McConnell's own state, Obamacare Cuts Kentucky's Uninsured Rate By 40 Percent. Some failure.

Since you're so confident, do you know how many of those supposed 9.3 million net gain are now being covered by medicaid where at one point they weren't eligible? Do you know what the cost of the increase in medicaid usage will be to both the federal government and to the states who opted into the new program even though their state costs will skyrocket once the federal government stops subsidizing it for them? Do you know how many of the net gain are the so called young invincibles who chose not to seek insurance previously and that are needed for the plan to be financially viable? Do you know how much the federal government is on the hook for as it relates to losses insurance companies may face as a result of having to cover people with pre-existing conditions, etc? Let's not even talk about all those who've been exempted or delayed in entering the new program while Obama and the Democrats try to avoid the political fallout.
 
I love how conservatives define failure. In reality, conservatives suffer from disaster delusions.

Obamacare has exceeded predictions. The nonpartisan RAND Corporation released a study estimating “a net gain of 9.3 million in the number of American adults with health insurance coverage from September 2013 to mid-March 2014.” Some failure.

Even in Mitch McConnell's own state, Obamacare Cuts Kentucky's Uninsured Rate By 40 Percent. Some failure.

My numbers might be off a little but they are very close...

didn't the CBO say that the exchanges would enroll (real enroll, not Obama's definition) 7 million new insureds with almost all of them being previously uninusred? What did we get isntead? According to the Rand study, 1.x million newly insured through the exchange - extrapolated to 2.5 million when accounting for the surge. It's a huge sucess, I am sure!
 
I love how conservatives define failure. In reality, conservatives suffer from disaster delusions.

Obamacare has exceeded predictions. The nonpartisan RAND Corporation released a study estimating “a net gain of 9.3 million in the number of American adults with health insurance coverage from September 2013 to mid-March 2014.” Some failure.

Even in Mitch McConnell's own state, Obamacare Cuts Kentucky's Uninsured Rate By 40 Percent. Some failure.

You're right, I shouldn't have said failure. Sebelius did a fine job managing a gigantic entitlement expansion that will cost taxpayers massive amounts of money so poor people can get free healthcare. I forgot about what a great job she did with the entitlement rollout.

My bad!
 
Should be an interesting confirmation hearing.

Well, at least maybe she will be able to answer all of the questions that Sebelius couldn't. But I won't hold my breath. Obama will instruct her what to say to avoid everyone knowing the truth about the behemoth entitlement program.
 
Yea, Sebelius is resigning so they can blame her for the low number of people that actually paid something after they signed up on the Obamacare web site. Her replacement, Sylvia Burwell, will have the opportunity to blame it all on Sebelius, so yet another round of blame and deny from this administration. Almost guaranteed. You can see the wheels in their minds turning.

So who is this Sylvia Burwell?
Obama’s nominee to succeed Kathleen Sebelius played a key role in closing Washington’s monuments—a still-bitter issue for Republicans and their base.

The nomination of Sylvia Burwell to succeed Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services could lead to the reopening of a fiercely divisive issue that dominated the news in the fall of 2013. Not healthcare.gov, but the government shutdown.

As director of the Office of Management and Budget, Burwell was the individual who sent out the memo on the eve of the October 1 deadline for Congress to fund the government, saying officials should “now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations.” At the time, the shutdown sparked huge controversy among conservatives, who were particularly outraged that monuments on the Washington Mall, including the World War II Memorial were closed during the shutdown. While the GOP suffered grievously in national polls during the shutdown, brought upon by a refusal by Republicans to pass any budget that funded the Affordable Care Act, some on the right used it as opportunity to flaunt their conservative bona fides.

Burwell’s nomination could lead to a return to this debate and reopening of arguments about an event once thought long consigned to the past. It adds another complication to confirmation hearings in which Republicans, only six months before midterm elections, will be looking to score political points criticizing the Affordable Care Act. While some of the conservative base may be still deeply outraged about the closing of the World War II Memorial to veterans during the shutdown, every mention of the shutdown takes the GOP away from its core message of fighting Obamacare and on to an issue that caused Republicans huge political damage. The question is whether any Republican senators will take the bait.
Could Shutdown Skeletons Haunt Sylvia Burwell?

And you expect this to get better? You expect that the administration will actually perform better with someone likes of Burwell high a position of higher authority? Really?
 
"Required"? That depends on how you interpret required...

"Depends on what the definition is 'IS' is". :lamo

(Sorry, it's Friday, and I just couldn't resist)
 
My numbers might be off a little but they are very close...

didn't the CBO say that the exchanges would enroll (real enroll, not Obama's definition) 7 million new insureds with almost all of them being previously uninusred? What did we get isntead? According to the Rand study, 1.x million newly insured through the exchange - extrapolated to 2.5 million when accounting for the surge. It's a huge sucess, I am sure!

Yes, they did expect a higher percentage of previously uninsureds becoming insured on the exchange. All in (exchange + medicaid + under 26 now on mom&dad's plan), however, in its first year, Obamacare insured 9.5-10.0 million previously uninsureds and got them insurance. That is in spite of the Republican best efforts to sabotage the thing by promoting the idea it was a failure; keeping states from expanding Medicaid and keeping states from establishing their own exchanges.

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/30/nation/la-na-obamacare-uninsured-national-20140331

Kentucky is a great example of Obamacare potential when the state actually follows the program. Kentucky, in just a few months, cut the number of uninsured by almost 1/2.

http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...urges-kynect-sign-ups-deadline-nears/7116229/
Just think how successful those program would be in Republicans were real Americans and did not spend all of their time and energy trying to make America fail.
 
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Yes, they did expect a higher percentage of previously uninsureds becoming insured on the exchange. All in (exchange + medicaid + under 26 now on mom&dad's plan), however, in its first year, Obamacare insured 9.5-10.0 million previously uninsureds and got them insurance. That is in spite of the Republican best efforts to sabotage the thing by promoting the idea it was a failure; keeping states from expanding Medicaid and keeping states from establishing their own exchanges.

That's not quite accurate. They expected 7 million to enroll in just the exchange portion - with almost all being previously uninsured. They then expected 8 million to enroll through Medicaid.

The Congressional Budget Office originally projected 7 million people would sign up during the six-month open enrollment period, but it scaled back that prediction to 6 million following HealthCare.gov’s highly troubled launch last fall. The CBO also predicted that 8 million more Americans will enroll in Medicaid this year.

http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/obamacare-enrollment-keeps-growing\

Based on the Rand study, it sounds like the Medicaid enrollment was off too... With most of the Medicaid enrollments not due to the expansion and actually just renewals or people that were already qualified for Medicaid just had not signed up yet.
 
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