Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Monday doubled down on her belief that President Obama nominated his budget chief to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius so that the administration could doctor the figures when it comes to Obamacare’s delicate economics.
“The numbers are not going to work out like they said they were going to work out,” the Tennessee Republican told Fox News, reiterating a line of argument she used on the Sunday talk shows.
Mrs. Sebelius plans to give way to Syvlia Mathews Burwell, director of the Office of Management and Budget, in May, assuming the latter earns Senate confirmation.
She leaves as the White House celebrates 7.5 million sign-ups in private health plans during Obamacare’s first enrollment period. However, Republicans predict that premiums will soar this summer, after insurers see too few young and healthy enrollees from the new law’s health exchanges.
Ms. Blackburn said the Obama administration will seek ways to gloss over the negative numbers.
The White House, she said, should have embraced a GOP plan last year to delay all aspects of the overhaul, before the disastrous rollout of Obamacare websites nearly upended the reforms and forced the administration to delay parts of the law, anyway.
Despite the turnaround of HealthCare.gov and other portals, GOP lawmakers say the reforms are still ripe for repeal.
“I think we’re going to begin to see a brick by brick pulling apart [of the law] because of the number of delays,” she said.
She said Mr. Obama’s law should give way to GOP initiatives, such as the expansion of Health Savings Accounts — a strategy the GOP has pushed in recent months because people who purchased cheap Obamacare plans will face high deductibles.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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