Sebelius Never Told Obama of Healthcare.gov’s Woes Despite 18-Plus Meetings? Really?

After the disastrous launch of
Healthcare.gov, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius publicly insisted that the president learned of the
website’s woes along with the rest of the country—on October 1,
2013, and thereafter as the slow-motion train wreck occupied public
attention. But it turns out that Sebelius and Obama met many times
in the year leading to the Obamacare portal’s launch—”including at
least seven instances in which the two were scheduled to discuss
the new healthcare law.” Did somebody forget to pencil a few
important items on the agenda? Or is the administration just full
of shit?

Back in October, Sebelius
told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta that Obama learned of trouble with
the Healthcare.gov implementation and launch in “the first couple
of days” after the site went live. She specifically denied that he
had any hint of trouble earlier.

But The Hill‘s Kevin Bogardus and Jonathan Easley

report:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was in
frequent contact with President Obama and senior White House aides
before the disastrous launch of the federal ObamaCare exchange last
year.

While Sebelius has said the president was not aware of
HealthCare.gov’s problems, more than 750 pages of documents
obtained by The Hill through a Freedom of Information Act request
show she made scores of visits to the White House.

The documents reveal that Sebelius met with or attended calls
and events with Obama at least 18 times between Oct. 27, 2012, and
Oct. 6, 2013, including at least seven instances in which the two
were scheduled to discuss the new healthcare law, according to the
secretary’s draft schedules.

She had breakfast or lunch with Pete Rouse, considered one of
Obama’s closest advisers, at least three times. Moreover, Sebelius
had scheduled calls or meetings with Valerie Jarrett, an Obama
confidante, and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough.

Sebelius also met with or had calls with Chris Jennings, then a
White House senior healthcare adviser, at least seven times in the
roughly yearlong period.

Now, it’s possible they just said “fuck work” and discussed
favorite plot lines from Community (you know
that Barry thinks he’s a Jeff Winger, but he’s really more of a Ben
Chang.) But I suspect at least a little shop talk made its
way into the chatter from time to time.

Of course, Healthcare.gov is just the public face of Obamacare
despite the great many woes besetting the Affordable Care Act
independent of the Internet. Maybe, instead of the disastrous
website, they were discussing its impact on health
costs, or employment,
or
taxes, or the
availability of care…