Republicans demand HHS Secretary Sebelius' head over exchange problems

Republican are calling for the resignation of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over the rocky start to open enrollment in the health insurance exchanges.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) demanded in a statement that Sebelius resign for "gross incompetence," claiming she continued to waste taxpayer dollars on healthcare reform advertising and promotion while consumers struggled to sign up for exchange plans.

"In the absence of a full repeal of Obamacare, which is my preference, we need new leadership from top to bottom. I am calling on the Secretary to resign," Roberts said in the statement.

Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) has joined the chorus calling for Sebelius' head as he holds out for a reform repeal, the Washington Times reported.

"In the meantime, someone must be held accountable for wasting taxpayer dollars on a rollout that was more than three years in the making," Fleming said.

Similarly, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Tuesday demanded the secretary lose her job. "If this were a company and not the government, she'd already be gone. She should be fired," he said in a newly released web video, The Hill reported.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that President Barack Obama still has "full confidence" in Sebelius, whose top priority is making healthcare reform implementation succeed.

While the government blamed ongoing technical problems with higher-than-expected usage, IT experts chalk up the HealthCare.gov debacle to poor federal health IT processes, FierceHealthIT previously reported.

For more:
- here's the Reuters article
- here's Robert's statement
- read the Washington Times article
- check out the Hill's article