



Sebelius, who oversaw the creation of the Affordable Care Act and has been a lightning rod for criticism over its bungled rollout, will formally make the announcement on Friday.

Her departure comes less than seven months before the midterm elections, in which Democrats across the country fear they will be punished at the polls over the introduction of the healthcare law, known as Obamacare.

A White House official told the Guardian that Obama would announce Sebelius’s departure at 11am on Friday. The announcement will be made in the Rose Garden of the White House. Obama, standing beside his vice president Joe Biden, will announce his nomination for her replacement is Sylvia Mathews Burwell.

Burwell has been director of White House’s Office of Management and Budget since April. She was unaminmously confirmed in that post by Congress, a sign that Obama hopes to avoid a protracted and bruising confirmation process.



“Secretary Sebelius notified the president in early March of her decision,” said the White House official, who was not authorised to speak on the record. “At that time, secretary Sebelius told the president that she felt confident in the trajectory for enrollment and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and that she believed that once open enrollment ended it would be the right time to transition the department to new leadership.”

The official added: “The president is deeply grateful for her service.”

The White House will hope Sebelius’s departure will bring to an end one of the rockiest chapters of Obama's presidency, which began in October after the federal healthcare website – a crucial portal on which people could sign up for health insurance – was beset by technical issues.



Millions of people were unable to access the site, amid crashes and glitches, and at periods it seems the fiasco would derail the entire healthcare law.

Republicans pounced on the bungled rollout of the federal law, which also led to some Americans losing their insurance plans, despite being promised by Obama they could keep their existing arrangements.

Sebelius has been health and human services secretary since 2009, and her role as a chief architect of Obamacare, a hugely complex piece of legislation, was instrumental in the decision to keep her in post, even after the website failures.

The Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell welcomed Sebelius' resignation but appeared to indicate an willingness to open dialogue with Burwell even as he declared that "Obamacare has to go."

"I hope this is the start of a candid conversation about Obamacare's shortcomings and the need to protect Medicare," said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.

The timing of her departure appears to have been carefully orchestrated to capitalise on the unexpectedly high numbers of people who enrolled on for new healthcare plans before the deadline drew to a close last week.

Contrary to early fears that the stuttering website and disastrous press coverage would lead to insufficient numbers of uninsured people signing up to under the new healthcare exchanges, Obama announced earlier this month that more than 7 million people had enlisted. The figure was higher than expected, providing a much need boost to Obama’s flagging presidency. The White House is desperate to press home the impression it has turned a corner in the healthcare debate.



A former governor of Kansas, Sebelius is one of Obama’s longest-serving cabinet members, although their relationship has been strained by the flawed rollout of the healthcare law which, despite recent improvements, will leave an indelible mark on his second term in the White House.



Hours before the announcement of her departure was leaked on Thursday, Sebelius appeared on Capitol Hill, where has routinely been hauled before Senate and House committees for a grilling. She made no mention of her intention to stand down when she appeared before the Senate finance committee. Instead, she announced 400,000 more people had enrolled for healthcare under the new law than first reported, taking the total tally to 7.5 million.

The additional figures were accounted for by a decision by Sebelius to allow extend the deadline individuals who have had trouble signing up for plans, from 31 March until 15 April. It was one of several deadline extensions and last-minute changes introduced by the administration in recent months to keep Obamacare afloat.

The administration has not said how many of those who have already signed up for insurance closed the deal by paying their first month’s premiums. Neither have Sebelius or other senior officials said how many people lost their plans because their did not meet the requirements of the ACA.

Despite repeatedly being pressed by senators to shed more light on the figures, Sebelius resisted the questioning and – much as she has over the last five months – absorbed the heat on behalf of the administration.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a staunch supporter of the health care law, praised Sebelius as a "forceful, effective and essential" member of the administration. "Secretary Sebelius was a leader in the long effort to make history for our country with passage of the Affordable Care Act," the California Democrat said in a statement.

By appointing Burwell as her replacement, Obama has opted for an official that has not been too closely associated with the creation of Obamacare, although she has had a front-row seat druing rollout fiasco in her role at the OMB. Previous to her administration post, Burwell ran the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a shorter stint as president of the Walmart Foundation.

She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to run the government’s crucial budget department less than a year ago, potentially making it more difficult for Republicans to object to her appointment. Still, her confirmation process is likely to be fraught, with Republicans, who advocate entirely repealing Obama’s healthcare law, determined to punish the president and his party over the flawed rollout of the law.

“The president sought a nominee with strong credentials in management, implementation, and performance for this important role,” the White House official said, adding that Burwell has “a record of building bipartisan consensus to get things done”.

Around 50 million Americans lacked health care coverage before the introduction of Obama’s divisive healthcare reforms. The law’s passage in 2010, and withstanding of a Supreme Court challenge and the 2012 presidential election, make it the single most important domestic legacy of Obama’s presidency.