Kathleen Sebelius: “If you ask people do they like Obamacare, the answer is pretty universally no,”

Kathleen Sebelius buys a vowel...

Via Daily Mail:

… “If you ask people do they like Obamacare, the answer is pretty universally no,” Sebelius said at a Politico “Lessons from Leaders” event. “Unless they have coverage.”
The public’s distaste for the Affordable Care Act is irrefutable. While many Democratic supporters of the law continue to blame unpopularity on the botched website during Sebelius’ tenure as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Obamacare reached its lowest approval rating from Gallup just last month.
But Sebelius charges that the law is working and simply needs to be re-branded and re-sold to the American people.
“So Obamacare no question has a very bad brand that has been driven intentionally by a lot of misinformation and by a lot of paid advertising and I think we may need to call it something, in the future, different,” Sebelius said. “But it’s working and now people are getting coverage.”
Keep on reading…

Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has a Gruber moment...

Basically, Kathleen Sebelius thinks you don't like Obamacare because you are too stupid to understand insurance...

Still, Sebelius didn’t dispute the point that many Americans don’t fully understand how health insurance and the Affordable Care Act work, including the trade-offs involved in expanding coverage.
“A lot of Americans have no idea what insurance is about,” she said. “I think the financial literacy of a lot of people, particularly people who did not have insurance coverage or whose employers chose their coverage and kind of present it to them, is very low — and that has been a sort of stunning revelation. It’s not because people hid it from folks. It’s because this is a complicated product.”

Obvious: Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: “I sure made some mistakes along the way..."

You think?

Via Politico:

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius acknowledged Friday that she made mistakes leading up to the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, worrying too much about whether there’d be a market for Obamacare and spending “too little time clearly on the technology side.”
“I sure made some mistakes along the way in terms of focusing on some things and not on others,” she said at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Instead of confirming what she was being told about HealthCare.gov’s readiness “was actually accurate and getting enough eyes and ears on that,” she said she concentrated on the insurers, consumers and regulators who needed to come together in the health exchanges.
Sebelius addressed several issues surrounding the health care law during the “conversation” she had publicly with Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson. And she adamantly rejected the possibility that she’d make another run for elective office back in Kansas, where she served more than a decade as a state lawmaker and then governor.

Your Tax dollars at work: HHS pays $146.64 per month per user for email

This is another reason Kathleen Sebelius should have been fired a longtime ago. 

Via WFB:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spends roughly $123.2 million per year to provide “email services” for its 70,000 employees, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Buried in a footnote of a recently released GAO report on the agency’s coordination with the nonprofit group Enroll America, the congressional watchdog detailed the high operating costs associated with running the department’s email.

“HHS told us that HHS pays $146.64 per month per user for email; that this charge covers connectivity, storage, and other e-mail services; and that this charge is independent of the number of emails that are sent or received,” the GAO said.

According to the Cato Institute, HHS employs approximately 70,000 people.

Keep on reading…

Bumbling HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius even misspelled the name of her successor in her farewell email...

Glitches...

Via Breitbart:

Newly-retired Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius misspelled the name of her successor, Sylvia Burwell, in her final goodbye email to her HHS coworkers, reports Politico.
A Friday evening email titled “Thank you” read as follows:

“As you’ve no doubt heard by now, in the coming months I will be passing the baton to my friend and colleague, Sylvia Burrell [sic]…I’ve worked closely with Sylvia in her role as director of OMB. She is a skilled, strategic leader who I know will continue to improve health services for all Americans. I will continue the important work we have to do here until Sylvia is confirmed, and I am committed to doing what I can to help her–and to help you–during this transition.”

Obamacare shill down: Kathleen Sebelius resigns...

It's about time.

WASHINGTON — Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, is resigning, ending a stormy five-year tenure marred by the disastrous rollout of President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Obama accepted Ms. Sebelius’s resignation this week, and on Friday morning he will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to replace her, officials said.

The departure comes as the Obama administration tries to move beyond its early stumbles in carrying out the law, persuade a still-skeptical public of its lasting benefits, and help Democratic incumbents, who face blistering attack ads after supporting the legislation, survive the midterm elections this fall.

Liar: Sebelius Walks Back Administration's ObamaCare Enrollment Goal

Sebelius claims 7 million wasn't their goal.



Last September, Sebelius claimed success looked like 7 million by March.

Video: HHS Sec. Sebelius ducks questions about PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year"

HHS Sec. Sebelius ducks questions about PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year," resignation rumor 

Amusing Video: Healthcare.gov website crashes during Sebelius PR event

Sebelius couldn't buy a break. The website seems to crash everytime she gets near a computer.

At a second table, the secretary met Carmen Salero who was trying to sign up online. As the secretary and Salero made small talk, CBS4′s Brian Andrews noticed the site crash on the lap top in front of them.
“The screen says I’m sorry but the system is temporarily down,” Andrews pointed out. “Uh oh,” responded the secretary. “That happens every day,” said Salerno, “it must mean a lot of people are on there trying to get coverage.”

Is Obama completely incompetent or is Kathleen Sebelius a liar?

 Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius claims in a CNN interview that Barack Obama didn't know there were issues with the Obamacare website until after October 1st. Either Sebelius is lying or Obama is a completely incompetent chief executive. This was a $500 billion website design project that would affect millions of Americans and was key to Obama's only accomplishment as President. Obama should have been asking about the status in weekly cabinet meetings and reading reports on the progress of the project. If Sebelius misled Obama in those meetings and reports, she should be fired. If Obama failed to have the meetings or read the reports, he should be fired. If Obama actually knew about the problems and failed to take emergency action action, he should be fired. Catastrophes like this are why the President should be someone with chief executive experience preferably in both business and government. If only someone like that had ran against Obama in 2012.

President Barack Obama didn’t know of problems with the Affordable Care Act’s website — despite insurance companies’ complaints and the site’s crashing during a test run — until days into its now well-documented abysmal launch, the nation’s health chief told CNN on Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted that there is concern in her department and the White House over the technical debacle surrounding the Obamacare website rollout, saying “no one could be more frustrated than I am and the president.”
The site was supposed to make it simple for people to search and sign-up for new health care policies starting on October 1, but instead it’s been clunky and, at times, inoperable.
“We’re not at all satisfied with the workings of the website,” Sebelius said. “We want it to be smooth and easy and let consumers’ compare plans.” Keep on reading...

Denial: HHS Secretary Sebelius claims the website is functional and “we will hit the mark”

Mrs. Sebelius appears to be delusional and should be replaced...

Overall, she said, the website is functional and “we will hit the mark” within the law’s six-month open enrollment period that began Oct. 1. “I’m not throwing out the system and starting over,’” she said. …
Mrs. Sebelius convenes meetings, often three times a day, to monitor progress against the technological snafus. “I can’t fix the website myself,” she said. “But I’m working around the clock to find out what we know in extraordinary and honest detail, hold our contractors and our team accountable, and accelerate the timeline to resolve the problems.”

Meanwhile: 

Sebelius Making Time For Gala, Not Testimony Before Congress 

 

Flashback: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Repeatedly Promises Obamacare Website Will Be On Track For October 1st Launch…

 HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is either incompetent or a liar. Either way, she should go...

Via WZ:

HHS Sec Kathleen Sebelius: The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community will be a special focus of Obamacare...

As if we needed another reason to dislike Obamacare. Now we learn some people will be treated specially...

Via Washington Secrets:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday said that members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community will be a special focus of Obamacare because “for too long…[they] were pushed to the side.”

To honor Lesbian, Gay, Bixexual and Transgender Pride Month in June, the administration is drawing attention to new benefits under Obamacare targeted to the LGBT, which Sebelius said have had their access to health care limited and who, she added, have higher rates of tobacco use and are at increased risk for mental health illness.
Among the benefits to the community under Obamacare are the end of a lifetime coverage limit, which is expected to help victim of HIV/AIDS who are often on an expensive regimen of drugs.

She added that the administration is stepping up their focus on and attention to the LGBT community by adding gender status to health surveys and questionnaires which are critical in determining services under Obamacare.

Keep on reading…

HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius admits Obamacare is raising some peoples insurance rates...

These people were lied to about their costs going down. One of the reasons their costs are going up is they can't keep their current high deductible plan. That makes a second lie they were told.

Via WSJ:

Some people purchasing new insurance policies for themselves this fall could see premiums rise because of requirements in the health-care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Tuesday.

Ms. Sebelius’s remarks come weeks before insurers are expected to begin releasing rates for plans that start on Jan. 1, 2014, when key provisions of the health law kick in.

Premiums have been a sensitive subject for the Obama administration, which is counting on elements in the health law designed to increase competition among insurers to keep rates in check. The administration has pointed to subsidies that will be available for many lower-income Americans to help them with the cost of coverage.

The secretary’s remarks are among the first direct statements from federal officials that people who have skimpy health plans right now could face higher premiums for plans that are more generous. She noted that the law requires plans to provide better benefits and treat all customers equally regardless of their medical claims.

“These folks will be moving into a really fully insured product for the first time, and so there may be a higher cost associated with getting into that market,” she said. “But we feel pretty strongly that with subsidies available to a lot of that population that they are really going to see much better benefit for the money that they’re spending.”...

Keep on reading…

HHS Secretary Sebelius Claims Health Care Is “An Issue of National Security” or Something

Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, isn't short on hyperbole.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday that America’s health is a matter of national security and that she’s optimistic the Supreme Court will uphold the nation’s health care reform law.

During a visit to the South Carolina coast, Sebelius spoke with a black nurses group and then was to attend a conference on improving access to health care.

The nation’s health “really is an issue of national security,” she told the nurses group, adding that a healthy, productive work force “is an essential part of our prosperity.”

She told reporters later that “there’s no question in this global economy when we’re competing with nations across the globe we need all 300 million Americans to be equipped and fully participating in society. If we have a population that is handicapped by chronic disease or managing disease or absent from work, it harms not only their health by the harms the productivity of our country.”

Read more here…

In the run up to the Obamacare vote in Congress, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sat on a report, from the nonpolitical government's Medicare’s Office of the Actuary, which found the Democrats health care bill actually bent the cost curve up and would cause 14 million Americans to lose employer based health coverage.

Eric Holder and Kathleen Sebelius compare Obamacare mandate to auto insurance mandate

I have heard many informed people make this argument that the health insurance mandate is no different than an auto insurance mandate, but I am shocked Eric Holder and Kathleen Sebelius would trot it out. However, that is exactly what they do in this WaPo opinion piece. There is a huge difference between the health insurance mandate and mandatory automobile insurance. You are only required to buy auto insurance if you own a vehicle and want to drive it on public roads. You are not required to buy a vehicle and insurance it if you don't want or need a vehicle. Many people in large cities don't have any need to own automobiles. With Obamacare, if you are alive and living in America, you are required to purchase health insurance or be fined by the IRS.

The Washington Post reported:

Everyone wants health care to be affordable and available when they need it. But we have to stop imposing extra costs on people who carry insurance, and that means everyone who can afford coverage needs to carry minimum health coverage starting in 2014.

If we want to prevent insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions, it’s essential that everyone have coverage. Imagine what would happen if everyone waited to buy car insurance until after they got in an accident. Premiums would skyrocket, coverage would be unaffordable, and responsible drivers would be priced out of the market.

The same is true for health insurance. Without an individual responsibility provision, controlling costs and ending discrimination against people with preexisting conditions doesn’t work.

The last part of the excerpt, in bold, is very important. Eric Holder and Kathleen Sebelius admit that a major part of the legislation rests upon the individual mandate. If the mandate is struck down, the whole house of cards falls down. They have made a case for judges to throw out the whole law, not just the individual mandate part.

DHHS Scrubs Sebelius Obamacare Lie From Website

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a whopper in a speech posted on the DHHS website. She claimed there would be more Medicare Advantage plans to choose from next year than this year. After being called out on the lie by Senator Grassley, DHHS altered the text without noting the change.

Politico reported:

Sebelius had told an AARP conference in Orlando last week that next year “there will be more Medicare Advantage plans to choose from,” according to prepared remarks e-mailed to reporters and posted on HHS’s website on Monday. Grassley’s staff asked HHS to back up the statement, an aide to the senator, who has long been skeptical of Democrats’ claims about the health law’s impact, told POLITICO.

As Grassley’s office was drafting a formal letter to Sebelius questioning the claim, the speech text was altered on the HHS web site without noting the change. The statement about more Medicare Advantage plans was deleted and now reads, “there will be more meaningful choices.” Read more here.

Kathleen Sebelius Tells Insurance Companies Telling the Truth About Obamacare to Shut Up or Else

Kathleen Sebelius is irate health insurance companies are exercising their first amendment right and pointing out recent hikes in health premiums are the result of mandates in President Obama's Heath Care Reform bill. Under changes taking place in the last half of 2010, parents can keep their adult children on the health insurance until age 26, more preventative coverage was mandated, lifetime limes were eliminated and pre-exiting conditions were dropped for those under 18. All these changes will insurance companies money. They are passing that along to consumers and educating the public on why this is happening. The Obama administration doesn't want consumers to know the truth and has issued a near ultimatum to insurance companies. Shut up or else.

AP repored:

President Barack Obama's top health official on Thursday warned the insurance industry that the administration won't tolerate blaming premium hikes on the new health overhaul law.

"There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to the insurance lobby.

"Simply stated, we will not stand idly by as insurers blame their premium hikes and increased profits on the requirement that they provide consumers with basic protections," Sebelius said. She warned that bad actors may be excluded from new health insurance markets that will open in 2014 under the law. They'd lose out on a big pool of customers, as many as 30 million people nationwide.

Kathleen Sebelius: Americans Need Obamacare "Reeducation"

Obamacare is still unpopular. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius thinks Americans need to be reeducated. I wonder if they will round us up and put us in Obamacare reeducation camps?

ABC News reported:

With a number of polls showing a sustained level of opposition to the Democrats’ health care reform efforts more than five months after passage, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration has “a lot of reeducation to do” heading into the midterms.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Hid Damaging Medicare Actuary Report for One Month

While Democrats were touting deficit reduction claims, based on a CBO report, in the run up to the Obamacare vote, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was sitting on a report, from the nonpolitical government's Medicare’s Office of the Actuary, which found the Democrats health care bill actually bent the cost curve up and would cause 14 million Americans to lose employer based health coverage.

FOX Nation reported:

The economic report released last week by Health and Human Services, which indicated that President Barack Obama’s health care “reform” law would actually increase the cost of health care and impose higher costs on consumers, had been submitted to the office of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius more than a week before the Congressional votes on the bill...

The analysis, performed by Medicare’s Office of the Actuary, which in the past has been identified as a “nonpolitical” office, set off alarm bells when submitted. “We know a copy was sent to the White House via their legislative affairs staff,” says the HHS staffer, “and there were a number of meetings here almost right after the analysis was submitted to the secretary’s office. Everyone went into lockdown, and people here were too scared to go public with the report.”