Obamacare architects gear up for second year

Key Obamacare architects said Tuesday political headwinds will not deter them from promoting the controversial health law in its second year, casting the reforms as a private matter for American families even though it remains the centerpiece of partisan struggles on Capitol Hill.

In her first major address since resigning, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius praised enrollment volunteers for staring down relentless obstruction and even intimidation as they promoted the law.

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It was harder in states where you were facing unbelievable odds, she told nearly 1,000 professionals and volunteers at the State of Enrollment conference in Washington hosted by Enroll America, a nonprofit that promotes the law.

Under duress for much of the first enrollment period from September to April, Mrs. Sebelius left on a relative high point after 8 million people signed up for private coverage on the laws health exchanges. She offered a parting thank you to supporters Tuesday while indirectly calling out political leaders in Texas, Florida or other places who pushed back against the law.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat who led the only southern state to set up its own Obamacare state-based marketplace, said tens of thousands residents in his red state enrolled because they looked past the political bickering.

I told people, You dont have to like me. You dont have to like President Obama, he said. Because this is not about me and its not about the president. Its about you. Its about your family.

The summits attempt to move beyond Obamacares partisan tint Mr. Beshear did take some jabs at his states Republican senators stood in contrast to the bickering that has marked the five years since Democratic majorities muscled the Affordable Care Act through Congress.

The GOP is highlighting the laws stumbles in its bid to take control Congress next year, but its health care rhetoric and trail of anti-Obamacare votes have taken a back seat to leadership battles and what to do, if anything, about immigration reform.

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Obamacare architects gear up for second year