WASHINGTON, D.C., November 8, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Thursday, 10 Republican Senators sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to “immediately relieve Secretary [Kathleen] Sebelius of her duties as Secretary of Health and Human Services [HHS].” Sebelius has been under pressure by Members of Congress in both parties since the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) exchanges launched on October 1.
The letter cites misleading statements by Sebelius, bipartisan criticisms of Sebelius, and how ”problems were…ignored” by the secretary as reasons for the president to fire the former Kansas governor.
One prominent ACA opponent, Senator Mike Lee, R-UT, did not sign the letter but, according to spokesperson Brian Phillips, the senator “believes the responsibility ultimately lies with the president and he’s the one who needs to be held accountable.”
“That Sebelius remains the HHS secretary says a lot about the president’s judgment,” he said.
Earlier this week, President Obama tried to avoid answering whether or not he would fire Sebelius. After MSNBC’s Chuck Todd asked if he “had confidence” in Sebelius, the president shifted the focus to computer programmers and IT employees. When Todd again asked if the president would fire Sebelius, he simply said “the buck stops with me,” signaling to most observers that he was not planning to fire her – at least not yet.
But pressure mounts against both Sebelius and Obama by the day. The launch of the ACA has not been disastrous for the administration. The health insurance exchange website HealthCare.gov was tested only days before the launch, and crashed after only 1,000 people accessed it. Its shoddy performance, and reports that it poses a significant security risk, have kept enrollment numbers miniscule.
Although millions of people visited the website on the day of its launch, Congressman Darrell Issa reported that only six people were able to sign up for insurance.
In the weeks, more embarrassing numbers have trickled in. Only four people have enrolled in Delaware at a taxpayer cost of $1 million per enrollee. Only one signed up in North Carolina, and payment has not yet been made. Information gathered by Republican Senators Chuck Grassley, R-IA, and Orrin Hatch, R-UT, shows that a total of five people in the District of Columbia have completed the ACA’s exchange process, which is run by the District.
Problems have continued as the exchange website enters its second month. Hundreds of thousands of people have received cancellation letters from their insurance companies, and the administration admits that millions of Americans are expected to lose their existing coverage.
Familiar doctors and hospitals may not be covered under their new plans. Top hospitals have decided to be involved in the exchanges only in a limited way, with 11 of 18 hospitals surveyed by Watchdog.org only accepting one or two insurance companies in the exchanges.
As a result, this is not the first widespread call for Sebelius’ resignation. In October, more than 30 House Republicans asked the president to call “for the resignation of Secretary Sebelius,” so “the American people will not be held responsible for her department’s failures.”
Observers say it is unlikely that President Obama will act on these requests, because of the relationship Sebelius and the president have – she backed him in his first run for president, despite substantial political risk – and any nominee for secretary of HHS would go through a high-profile Senate nomination process that would put the president’s health care law under close scrutiny.
Sebelius has been a lightning rod for controversy since her appointment, because of her close relationship with Planned Parenthood and late-term abortionists like George Tiller. In her current role, she oversaw the implementation of the HHS mandate, which forces employers to furnish female employees with contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs without a co-pay.
The most recent letter was signed by Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Pat Roberts of Kansas, John Cornyn of Texas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, James Risch of Idaho, Mark Kirk of Illinois, John Barrasso of Wyoming, and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.
The letter in full is below:
Dear Mr. President:
We write today to formally request that you immediately relieve Secretary Sebelius of her duties as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
After the failed October 1 launch of the federally-run Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) exchanges, HealthCare.gov, it must be acknowledged that the problems are profound, systemic and undeniable. The website repeatedly crashed. Many visitors were unable to create accounts. Individuals have reported waiting for days to register online and being put on hold for hours after calling the 1-800 helpline. Even after visitors create accounts, they are often unable to access accurate information about subsidies and Medicaid eligibility. And when a user does select an insurance plan, insurers have reported that Healthcare.gov transmits error-filled applications to the insurance companies. In addition, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials will not report how many individuals or families have been able to enroll in a plan on HealthCare.gov.
Regrettably, these problems were diagnosed early and ignored. The New York Times reports, “Confidential progress reports from the Health and Human Services Department show that senior officials repeatedly expressed doubts that the computer systems for the federal exchange would be ready on time” (From the Start, Signs of Trouble at Health Portal, October 12, 2013). The Government Accountability Office also issued warnings in June that HHS had to address many issues in a very short timeframe before the October 1 rollout. The contractor “status report” from early September warned that significant milestones were being missed and that timeframes were too short. Tests done just days before the launch reportedly showed the computer systems couldn’t handle more than a few hundred hits at a time. However, the Secretary refused to give credence to these warnings.
In the days immediately following the launch, when it was apparent that problems were deep-seeded, Secretary Sebelius misled the public by claiming the issues were the result of high volume. According to her statements to the press, she even failed to inform you, the President under whom she serves, until days after the website launch that there were systemic problems needing millions more dollars and man hours to fix.
There is bipartisan agreement that accountability is paramount. Your former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “When they get it fixed, I hope they fire some people that were in charge of making sure that this thing was supposed to work.”
While assurances have been made that solutions are forthcoming, we have little confidence that immediate resolution is imminent. After spending more than $400 million on the failed website, taxpayers should not trust the same failed leadership to fix it. We believe that action must be taken swiftly to protect the American people from further fallout. If a similar rollout from any other national company or private sector business resulted in overwhelming and sustained problems, a high profile dismissal would be expected and appropriate.
Even worse, millions of Americans will lose their existing coverage starting January 1, 2014, because it does not meet new Obamacare requirements. These people could be left without any insurance at all if the exchange systems are not working soon.
For these reasons, we ask that you relieve Secretary Sebelius of her position as Secretary of Health and Human Services immediately.