Outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says that ObamaCare is working despite the terrible rollout that greeted the administration back in October. And she claims her departure from the White House was not the president's decision, as some have speculated, but rather her own.
In an interview with NBC's Andrea Mithcell that aired on Sunday's Meet the Press, Sebelius said she informed President Obama he needed to have an HHS chief who could steward the law for the remainder of his presidency, a time commitment she wasn't willing to make.
"I made it pretty clear that that really wasn't an option, to stay on," she said. "I mean, I thought it was fair to either commit until January of 2017 or leave with enough time that he would get a strong, competent leader."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The White House announced late Thursday that Sebelius would resign, though ObamaCare critics have demanded since the initial rollout debacle that she be fired. And as problems with Healthcare.gov lingered, even some Democrats called on Sebelius to step down, if only to help the administration save face.
In the interview, Sebelius also called the ObamaCare launch "terribly flawed and terribly difficult," adding that the administration's belief it would be ready in time for the October 1 rollout was "just flat out wrong." Still, she said the law was more or less working as envisioned, and that it was already giving people access to more and better health care choices. --Jon Terbush
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
