Sebelius Resigning from HHS

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is resigning after a five-year tenure of landmark achievements and technical fiascos. President Obama will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to replace her.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will announce her resignation Friday after a five-year tenure bookended by passage of the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the checkered rollout of the Healthcare.gov website.

President Obama accepted Sebelius's resignation earlier this week. She is one of the president's longest-serving cabinet members. On Friday morning he will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to replace her, White House and HHS officials said.

Sebelius, 65, has overseen the biggest changes to government healthcare programs since the launch of Medicare and Medicaid nearly 50 years ago. The PPACA, passed a year into her tenure, continues to remake U.S. healthcare. But Sebelius will be remembered as the public face of Healthcare.gov, which she championed and then came under fire for a succession of problems.

The nomination of Burwell, 48, is being cast as a shift toward tight management. She took the reins at OMB last April, after having served under President Clinton as Deputy Director of OMB, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Treasury, and Staff Director of the National Economic Council.

Between her federal administrative roles, Burwell was president of the Walmart Foundation and president of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sebelius steps down of her own accord and after health insurance enrollment jumped to 7.5 million through the online exchanges, exceeding forecasts and the first-year enrollment goal. Reports say that she approached Obama last month about leaving, suggesting that the March 31 enrollment deadline provided an opportunity for change.

But Burwell's confirmation is not assured. The PPACA continues to be a flashpoint in the polarized Congress.

HHS spent about $886 billion in 2013— one quarter of all federal dollars. The majority went to Medicare and Medicaid, which are operated by HHS's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Other agencies within HHS include the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality.