Kathleen Sebelius

“If your voices are not heard, you can be sure that many others will be - in particular those who are paid to present a point of view, and often do it most effectively.”

“The essence of good government is trust.”

“Being a mother is no longer a liability, and being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition! That's what change looks like.”

“We have by far the most expensive health system in the world. We spend 50 percent more per person than the next most costly nation. Americans spend more on health care than housing or food.”

“But for us Democrats, Obamacare is a badge of honor. Because no matter who you are, what stage of life you're in, this law is a good thing.”

“I've spent my career fighting the worst practices of insurance companies.”

“The men and women who serve this great nation, whether they are stationed in Iraq, Fort Riley, or the Korean Peninsula, or they serve us at home as our community first responders, serve because they believe in America.”

“A lot of the discussion about rolling back the Affordable Care Act is about dismantling the marketplaces where individuals are shopping for their own coverage when they don't get it in their workplace.”

“American research and resources have literally changed the face of humanity, by tackling deadly and once-deadly diseases.”

“The secretary actually already has a good deal of authority within the confines of the Affordable Care Act. Step one really is a question of whether or not HHS will continue to reimburse insurance companies for cost-sharing expenses.”

“From 1965 to 1967, my dad, Jack Gilligan, served in Congress and helped pass landmark laws like the Voting Rights Act.”

“I'm a former insurance regulator. What companies really want and need is some clarity about what the rules are.”

“There are people in this country who have waited for decades for affordable health coverage for themselves and their families.”

“We have an opportunity to create a future where we are actually encouraging providers to keep people away from acute care, whenever possible.”

“Being a mother is no longer a liability, and being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition!”

“Insurance companies can no longer refuse to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions.”

“What we've been finding is that when you remove the barriers to innovation, you can actually hold costs down while lifting entrepreneurs up and getting better health results.”

“The lower income individuals, under any Republican proposal, at least that I have seen, are real losers in the framework because there is not enough subsidy, not enough assistance, for them to realistically participate in the market. Particularly if you halt or rollback the Medicaid expansion, which is for the lowest income workers.”

“I was governor of Kansas when Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts.”

“While closing our innovation gaps won't solve all our problems, we have some very real opportunities to improve the quality of care that's delivered to millions of Americans.”