The Burrill Report


In a White House ceremony, President Barack Obama officially announced the resignation of Kathleen Sibelius as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary. Her resignation comes after overseeing the rollout of the Administration’s Affordable Care Act and its health insurance exchange.

The President accepted the resignation and nominated Sylvia Burwell, director of the Office of Management, to replace Sebelius at HHS.

Though the federal insurance exchanges had a troubled beginning in October 2013 when they first went online, by the end of March 2014, more than 7 million people had used them to enroll in health plans. When she resigned, Sebelius said enrollment had grown to 7.5 million.

Sebelius, a former governor of Kansas, had been an early supporter of Obama in his to bid to become president and was the head of HHS for five years. She was called to task many times by Congress to explain what went wrong with the rollout.

She told President Obama in early March that she planned to leave the office after the initial enrollment period was over at the end of the month. In closing remarks she thanked Obama for “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Obama praised her efforts with regard to the new health law and other issues, saying that she handled challenges quietly and without expecting recognition “that have been critical to the health and welfare of the American people,” Obama said.

Burwell was easily confirmed to head the Office of Management and Budget and her confirmation to head the Department of Health and Human Services is likely to go smoothly. She headed OMB during the government shutdown in October 2013. She worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and headed the Walmart Foundation before coming to Washington to work in the Obama Administration.

April 13, 2014
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-hhs_secretary_sebelius_resigns.html