Health reform implementation

Sebelius headed back to Capitol Hill

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will testify again before lawmakers now that the deadline for fixing HealthCare.gov has passed.

She will appear before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health, led by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), on Wednesday, Dec. 11.

Sebelius has appeared before multiple Senate and House committees since Oct. 1, the date ObamaCare’s insurance exchanges debuted with massive technical problems. Republican lawmakers have repeatedly called for her resignation in light of the debacle.

{mosads}Topics of discussion at next week’s hearing are likely to range from HealthCare.gov, which continued to experience problems on Monday, to the latest set of delays in ObamaCare’s rollout.

The administration announced last week that it would delay the online enrollment system for small businesses by one year. The Spanish language website has also been languishing for more than two months.

Republicans previewed their criticism of the secretary and promised to focus on her April 18 comment to lawmakers that ObamaCare’s implementation was progressing fine.

“Secretary Sebelius repeatedly testified at this committee that everything was ‘on track’ for October 1, despite warnings that this was a nearly impossible goal,” Pitts said in a statement.

“The administration cannot begin to restore trust until it begins to be fully transparent with the American people. We expect Secretary Sebelius to come prepared with answers next week.”