Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius dropped a bombshell during a Senate hearing Wednesday. According to the New York Post, Sebelius admitted that "navigators" who help folks enroll in Obamacare could in fact be felons.
"A convicted felon could be a navigator and could acquire sensitive personal information from an individual unbeknownst to them?” asked Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
Sebelius responded: “That is possible.”
The revelation counts as yet another strike against the woman in charge of the president's key component in health care reform.
Both critics and Americans who were eager to register for cheaper health care have panned the Healthcare.gov site, which launched Oct. 1. Navigators were enlisted to help people fill out insurance paperwork either over the phone or in person, the New York Post reports.
Sebelius did add that states could require that navigators go through a background check, but that the federal Obamacare law doesn't require it.
Sebelius stood firm when questioned about delaying the implementation of new Obamacare rules.
"Delaying the Affordable Care Act wouldn't delay people's cancer or diabetes or Parkinson's," Sebelius testified to the Senate Finance Committee. "For millions of Americans, delay is not an option," CBS News reports.
She stressed that the open enrollment period for Obamacare insurance lasts through the end of March. "There's plenty of time to sign up for the new plans," she said.
Read more at the New York Post and CBS News.