Free Republic

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi boasted at last Thursday's weekly House Democrat News Conference that Obamacare was indeed a winning issue for Democrats, but Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu’s actions that same day indicated otherwise. While leader Pelosi was trying to convince reporters that Obamacare was actually affordable, Senator Landrieu refuse to appear with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was in New Orleans to promote Obamacare as the March 31st deadline fast approaches. Both the Times-Picayune and Bayou Buzz pointed out that Senator Landrieu was not mentioned on the official schedule sent out by HHS, while Senator Landrieu’s...

It seems as if Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius has ruined any possible shot at a career in comedy. Last Tuesday she was attending a fundraiser in Washington state for fellow Democratic governor, Chris Gregoire. Gregoire praised her state's well-known wines. Sebelius cracked an attempt at a feeble joke when she said, "You should be thankful we don't make wine in Kansas," Sebelius said. "If you ever see Kansas wine, don't drink it." Obviously, this joke did not set will with Kansas winemakers, and I can certainly understand why. From 49 News: Holton wine makers Ray and Becky Campbell say they're...

With each passing day, President Barack Obama, leftism personified, demonstrates that leftism is characterized by anything other than the human compassion it claims as its exclusive possession. I've always said leftists are about not compassion or treating people with sensitivity and respect, much less equally, but control and bullying, all with an arrogant, mean-spirited air of superiority. For Obama, there are at least two aspects to his control-freakishness. He not only pushes policies that give the federal government vastly more control over our lives but also is inordinately dictatorial in the manner in which he ramrods his agenda through, displaying...

HHS does not know how many of the people who signed up for Obamacare have followed through and paid their premiums, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a House panel this morning. “I can’t tell you because I don’t know that,” Sebelius told Rep. Tom Price at a Ways and Means Committee hearing on the agency’s budget.

The Obama administration will not delay ObamaCare's individual mandate or the March 31 deadline for enrolling in the new healthcare law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday.Sebelius offered the assurance during testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee, where Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) noted the administration has made dozens of other changes or delays to the law. ADVERTISEMENT Given problems caused by ObamaCare's faulty website last year, Brady asked Sebelius directly if delays to the individual mandate or enrollment deadline were next.“No sir,” Sebelius responded on both counts.

Here is a flashback for you. On December 23, 2013, I wrote about ObamaCare had a surprise in store for New Year's Day, 2014. There was a planned cut of 14% to the funds that help provide home health services to patients who do not go to the hospital. As it turns out, not only is that 14% cut a reality, but Kathleen Sebelius has doubled down on the cuts, to the tune of causing a 40% reduction in the amount of services home health providers will be able to supply. I would wonder what she is up to, if it...

The Girl Scouts should be an organization dedicated to teaching young girls moral values, teamwork, leadership, self-esteem and other skills kids need growing up. I am concerned about the long list of ways in which the Girl Scouts have: * partnered with Planned parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, * participated in international conferences promoting abortion, * hired pro-abortion feminists as national Girl Scout leaders, * promoted pro-abortion politicians like Wendy Davis and Kathleen Sebelius The Girl Scouts should not be partnering with the Planned Parenthood abortion business or promoting abortion or pro-abortion groups and people. Therefore, until the Girl...

In 2015, yet another unheralded and draconian provision of the Affordable Care Act will provide bureaucrats the power of life and death over the American people. Allow me to introduce TITLE I, Subtitle D, PART II, Section 1311, (h) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, (1) ENHANCING PATIENT SAFETY, (B). This portion states that: “Beginning on January 1, 2015, a qualified health plan may contract with—a health care provider only if such provider implements such mechanisms to improve health care quality as the Secretary may by regulation require.” As per the Federal Register of December 2, 2013, applicable rules are now being created. Inasmuch...

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a one-paragraph order in Little Sisters of the Poor et al v. Sebeluis et al. It told the Sisters that for the case to continue with no enforcement of the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate, they need only to inform the government in writing "that they are non-profit organizations that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services." That's easy, because that's what they are, and that's their position. As a result, the government has been "enjoined from enforcing against the applicants the challenged provisions of the...

(CNSNews.com) - "We're still a country very much addicted to tobacco," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a news conference last Friday, as she urged communities, schools and businesses to "help make the next generation a tobacco-free generation." A transcript of that news conference runs around 8,300 words, but there isn't a single word about the adverse health effects of marijuana smoking -- even as more states jump on the pot-legalization bandwagon. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana smoke is an irritant to the lungs, and "frequent marijuana smokers can have many of the same...

President Barack Obama can be heard whistling moments before a cabinet meeting Tuesday at the White House.

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Archdiocese of Washington has weighed in on Georgetown University’s invitation of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as a commencement speaker in clear terms, saying that the school has unmoored itself from Catholic identity and chosen a stance against the country’s Catholic bishops. Secretary Sebelius is the primary figure behind the HHS mandate forcing religious groups to provide free sterilizations, abortifacient drugs, and other forms of birth control to employees under the new health care law. She is also known for her extreme pro-abortion record, most notably her close ties with...

It’s hard to believe the National Republican Congressional Committee was able to narrow the list down to only 35. From the “train wreck” that is Obamacare, to the brilliant idea of solving the debt limit issue with a trillion-dollar platinum coin, 2013 has been, shall we say, less than stellar for Democrats. “Before we ring in 2014, it’s important to look back at some of their biggest failures in the past year,” the post’s author Matt Gorman told Red Alert Politics. “2013 may be rapidly coming to an end, but the Democrats’ troubles are just beginning.” While the complete list...

MIAMI (AP) — The HealthCare.gov website will still be a work in progress beyond the end of the month, Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday, appearing to soften a promise that the site will be working by then for the vast majority of users. "The 30th of November is not a magic go, no go date. It is a work of constant improvement. We have some very specific things we know we need to complete by the 30th and that punch list is getting knocked out every week," Sebelius told The Associated Press

If there’s one thing Obamacare’s supporters and opponents can agree on, it’s that Obamacare is unprecedented. Never before did the federal government require every American to buy a commercial product. Never before did it attempt to use its spending powers to coerce states into implementing a federal program. And never before did it so fundamentally rewrite the rules of such a major economic industry – one that makes up about a seventh of the national economy. With Obamacare, the federal government decided it would run, not just a business, but an entire industry of businesses. Imagine if the government decided...

A tale of woe from the frontlines of the Affordable Care ActI really wasn’t too concerned about Obamacare personally. I have a good job, with decent — if not great — benefits, and while I was worried about the effect the ill-advised law would have on the nation as a whole, I figured I’d get to keep my insurance. I was further convinced I didn’t need to worry about it when I got an email from my regional manager telling us that corporate had passed a miracle and we’d not be seeing a premium increase. Ha.I fell for that one...

As NewsBusters reported Wednesday, MSNBC is one of the least-trusted news organizations in America concerning information regarding ObamaCare. Martin Bashir perfectly demonstrated why this is Wednesday when moments after the disastrous October enrollment numbers were revealed by the White House, he actually spun them positively saying, "[T]he Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is, in fact, alive and kicking" (video follows with transcript and commentary):MSNBC Reports ObamaCare Enrollment Numbers Are Good MARTIN BASHIR: A very good afternoon to you, and in spite of aggressive attacks by its opponents, in spite of zealous campaigns to prevent its passage and implementation, it...

House Republicans are pouncing on President Obama’s apology for cancelled insurance plans to push him into backing legislation that would change ObamaCare. The president on Thursday said he was “sorry” that Americans were losing their healthcare plans despite his frequent assurances that individuals with insurance could keep them. Obama said he was seeking an administrative fix, but Republicans say they have a ready-made solution in the Keep Your Plan bill that they plan to bring up for a vote next week. A spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the president can’t address the problems plaguing the healthcare law through...

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, this morning expressed confidence in the prospects for a fully functioning government health-insurance website. What's more, the Iowa senator said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who oversaw the launch of the troubled site, HealthCare.gov, should retain her cabinet position. "I take a issue with it being a disaster," Harkin said during a conference call with The Daily Times Herald and other media. "It certainly is a setback, a bump in the road." Harkin said the hundreds of reported glitches with HealthCare.gov collectively amount to a "mechanical problem." The online marketplaces opened Oct. 1...

So now it turns out Obama knew that 93 million Americans would have their health insurance canceled the whole time he was claiming, "If you like your insurance, you can keep it. Period." Obama lied. Period. "Hope and Change" was actually "A Sucker Is Born Every Minute." Even without the 2010 Health and Human Services (HHS) report admitting that 93 million Americans would lose their health insurance, anyone with half a brain (which is a pre-existing condition) knew that millions of Americans would be thrown off their insurance plans under Obamacare. Under the law, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is to...