News broke Thursday evening that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had decided to step down from her post because of the disastrous rollout of Obamacare. According to the New York Times, President Obama accepted her resignation earlier this week and will nominate the Office of Management and Budget’s Sylvia Matthews Burwell, 48, as the next head of HHS. Friday morning, Sebelius formally announced her resignation with a glitch-filled speech at the White House.
“Sadly, we're losing her. Look all these accomplished. Look what she's done,” Pat said on radio this morning. “The end to preexisting conditions as a bar to insurance.”
“They also point out that young people are able to stay on their parents' insurance, which… essentially means the right for your parents to pay for your insurance,” Stu added. “It's not like a free service that insurance companies provide that don't cost anything. It's mommy and daddy paying… That's what that is.”
Sebelius is also being credited with reducing the growth of health care costs, which is a bit of a stretch.
“Reduction in the growth. Now [that is] not what was promised. And there is not a reduction in growth. So that's lie number one,” Pat said. “Lie number two is that they promised us a decrease in premiums. Period.”
Interestingly, the New York Times was the first to report the of the departure, and the notoriously liberal outlet does not paint Sebelius in the most flattering light.
The departure comes as the Obama administration tries to move beyond its early stumbles in carrying out the law, convince 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.
Officials said Ms. Sebelius, 65, made the decision to resign and was not forced out. But the frustration at the White House over her performance had become increasingly clear, as administration aides worried that the crippling problems at HealthCare.gov, the website set up to enroll Americans in insurance exchanges, would result in lasting damage to the president’s legacy.
Even last week, as Mr. Obama triumphantly announced that enrollments in the exchanges had exceeded seven million, she did not appear next to him for the news conference in the Rose Garden.
“They litter this with comments like ‘a low point,’” Stu said of the article. “They acknowledge that, even in the Administration, they realized that this was a disaster. And you know, this shows that it is because the New York Times is not lying or speculating… The Times article pretty much admits they sat there, waited for a burst of good news, and then let her go. They knew if they blew her off in the middle of the disasters, then it would look like they had a larger problem.”
And for your viewing pleasure, check out this November 2013 clip from the Wonderful World of Stu in which Stu runs through some of Sebelius’ most egregious lies:
Front page image courtesy of the AP