Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, is resigning from her position, and Pres. Barack Obama’s budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell has been tapped to take her position.
Sebelius was in charge of the rollout for Affordable Care Act, had serious troubles at its lunch and is still unpopular with many Americans and nearly all Republican lawmakers.
Obama accepted her resignation early this week, and announced Burwell’s nomination on Friday to take Sebelius’ place. Her resignation came just one week after the first enrollment period for ACA (also called Obamacare) closed. The act is considered Obama’s signature domestic legislative success. The act was anticipated to give millions of uninsured Americans health insurance coverage – 7.1 million people enrolled in the program, mainly through Internet exchanges by its March 31 deadline.
The law’s introduction was mucked up by the numerous website glitches that kept people from signing up for the coverage. It was these missteps that gave GOP legislators the ammunition they needed against the act.
Obama has been in Sebelius’ corner all through the problems and its corrections. However, she was not present for the news conference when Obama victoriously proclaimed enrollments in the Internet exchanges had surpassed seven million.
Sebelius will stay in her position until the Senate approves Burwell’s appointment.
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