Newt Gingrich: Kathleen Sebelius Needs to Go

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to resign on Wednesday.

The kickoff of Obamacare and roll-out of the exchanges since Oct. 1 has been a disaster, Gingrich wrote supporters on Wednesday night. It has been a technical disaster, a fiscal disaster, and most importantly, a human disaster. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius should be held responsible. We now know that the Obama administrations early characterization of the problems as glitches caused by overwhelming demand was disingenuous at best.

The technical failures are extraordinary, Gingrich added. Millions of people are supposed to sign up for insurance plans using the exchanges in the next few months, but very few have been able to do it. It appears the system has turned away the vast majority of users. Apparently the flaws are so serious they may not be fixed for a couple of months, according to an astonishing New York Times report this weekend.

Gingrich, a noted supporter of space exploration (his musings about a state being based on the moon hurt him during his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012) compared the health care website to a Mars rover and found it lacking.

The Obamacare website, HealthCare.gov, cost taxpayers an estimated $500 million and yet doesnt work, even after three years of lead time to develop it, Gingrich wrote. For comparison, the Mars Pathfinder (a pretty complex technical undertaking) cost $150 million and was developed in less than three years. It also actually worked.

Gingrich ended by calling for President Barack Obama to fire Sibelius if she does not resign. She has presided over one of the largest bureaucratic disasters in recent memory, Gingrich insisted. If she wont go voluntarily, President Obama should fire her. Its time for real accountability.