Oral history interview with Kathleen Sebelius, 2021
Abstract
Kathleen Sebelius discusses her service as secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 2009 to 2014. She recounts her upbringing, education, and career in Kansas state politics and public administration; shares memories about the process by which she joined the Obama administration; and focuses on the administration's healthcare reform effort. Sebelius outlines her activities as HHS secretary , and provides details about the congressional history of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); the partisan dynamics of healthcare reform; the administration's negotiations with insurance and pharmaceutical companies; the possibility of a public insurance option; Medicaid expansion; the development and launch of healthcare.gov and state insurance marketplaces; the legal challenges to the ACA; the controversy surrounding the ACA's coverage of contraception; and the feminist and social justice dimensions of healthcare reform. Also discussed are Sebelius' work on food safety and food supply issues, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, and HHS' involvement with federal environmental regulation
Presidents--United States; Health insurance--Law and legislation--United States; Medicaid--Law and legislation--United States; Contraceptives--Law and legislation--United States; Health care reform--United States; Kansas Politics and government; Sebelius, Kathleen, 1948-; Obama, Barack; United States. Department of Health and Human Services; United States; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
133 pages
Note (Biographical)
Kathleen Sebelius is a politician and businesswoman. Sebelius served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1987 until 1995, when she was elected Kansas insurance commissioner. In 2003, she was elected governor of Kansas. Sebelius joined the Obam a administration as the secretary of health and human services in 2009, where she advocated strongly for the Affordable Care Act. In 2014, she left the administration and became CEO of Sebelius Resources LLC, which provides strategic advice to private companies, non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, and financial investors
Note
Interviewed by Dov Weinryb Grohsgal on June 1, 2020, January 13 and 29, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Kathleen Sebelius, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023