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Feb 28, 2009 06:16 PM | 4
The New York Times and the Associated Press, quoting an anonymous White House source, are reporting that Pres. Barack Obama has chosen Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Sebelius' name had been at the top of insiders' lists ever since Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination for the post over his failure to pay more than $120,000 in taxes.
Sebelius is the former insurance commissioner of Kansas, a role in which she was cheered by consumer groups for blocking a merger between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas with an Indiana company because of the possibility that is would raise premiums in her state.
In her seven years as governor, Sebelius, 60, has vetoed anti-abortion legislation, including a bill that would have allowed the state to collect medical records to justify late-term abortion and allow people to seek court orders to prevent women from obtaining late-term abortions. That would put her in agreement with Pres. Obama, who intends to rescind a "right to conscience" rule issued in the final days of the Bush administration that blocks federal funding of health care facilities that don’t allow their employees to bow out of medical procedures, such as abortion, to which they have moral objections. She has also been in charge of Kansas’ Medicaid program.
Obama—who has made health care reform a key theme for his administration and put a $634 billion "reserve fund" for it into his first budget—is expected to make the official announcement on Monday.
Image of Kathleen Sebelius/U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Dayton Mitchell via Wikimedia Commons
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4 Comments
Add CommentIt's about time we ended governance by theism and returned to good old pragmatism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy is Scientific American reporting political matters instead of scientific matters? There is nothing of a scientific nature in this article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLet me gently point out that an attitudinal shift in government thinking as represented by the nomination of Governor Sebelius is indeed scientific news, in the sense that the delivery of scientific services, especially in medicine, can be hindered or facilitated by attitudes in Washington. No, this story isn't "scientific" in the sense, say, of a summary of a space exploration project -- the sort of story I enjoy, and which, clearly, you do as well -- and yes, it's a story we can get from regular newspapers, etc. I personally don't mind SA running it, though. Anyway, we can both look forward to reports of actual science in this fine magazine, for sure!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's about time we had politics by atheism. Just what we need to go with the Political Corectness that will lead to our being over run by Muslim Extremists. These "secularist hippies, left over from the Hash smoking druggies of the '60's" are in control. Funny how the "theism" of our Muslim Suicide Bombers is never discussed, and how excuses are made for the worst form of theism since the scourge of the extreme christians of the Dark Ages.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFunny how the government conceived by the diests of the 1700's has worked so well as th drag the American People to the top of the human pile. Lucky for us the athiests are in control. Extrmism is so good for us.
Idiot.