Sebelius Admits Fundraising for Pro-Obamacare Nonprofit

Sebelius Admits Fundraising for Pro-Obamacare Nonprofit

During a Tuesday Congressional hearing, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted she called three companies under her agency’s regulatory to encourage them to support a non-profit, Enroll America, whose mission is to promote and enroll citizens for Obamacare.

Sebelius says she made phone calls to Johnson & Johnson, Ascension Health, and Kaiser Permanente to encourage them to support Enroll America–which is run by former Obama officials–but that she did not explicitly solicit money.

“If they felt pressure, they misunderstood,” said Sebelius. “I can’t answer what they felt. I can tell you that… I have made fundraising solicitations to two groups and I did not discuss funding with the other three entities. I did discuss Enroll America.”

The other two groups Sebelius directly solicited for Obamacare cash were the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and H&R Block.

Senate Republicans like Sen. Lamar Alexander have blasted Sebelius’s fundraising efforts, citing the conflicts of interest in encouraging donations from organizations her agency regulates.

However, Sebelius defended her right to do so.

“I could legally solicit funds from anybody regulated by our office,” said Sebelius. “I chose not to do that.”

Some of the organizations Sebelius hit up for cash include interesting crony connections to the Obama White House.

Last year, for example, former HHS deputy and special assistant to the president Elizabeth Fowler,who helped draft Obamacare, left the White House to take a senior position at Johnson & Johnson. Prior to those roles, Fowler worked for health insurance giant WellPoint.

“That the White House would put a former health insurance industry executive in charge of implementation of its new massive health care law was roundly condemned by good government groups as at least a violation of the ‘spirit’ of governing ethics rules and even ‘gross,’ but those objections were, of course, brushed aside by the White House,” wrote Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian.

Greenwald added: “It’s difficult to find someone who embodies the sleazy, anti-democratic, corporatist revolving door that greases Washington as shamelessly and purely as Liz Fowler.”

Johnson & Johnson donated over three times as much to Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign ($109,319) as to Gov. Mitt Romney ($33,900).

In February, Kaiser Permanente teamed up with First Lady Michelle Obama to kick-off her Let’s Move Active Schools program. In 2009, Obama praised Kaiser Permanente as a model for health care reform. Kaiser Permanente’s employees were also one of Obama’s top 2012 campaign donors, giving a combined $588,386.

Sebelius claims she never discussed her Obamacare fundraising phone call scheme with anyone in the White House.

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