Skip to content

HOH’s One-Minute Recess: Ms. Fix-It?

Most people drop by Frager’s Hardware on Capitol Hill to pick up a flat of geraniums or a new nail gun, but Kathleen Sebelius was on a different sort of errand Monday.

The Health and Human Services secretary visited the popular shop Monday morning to announce the hotly anticipated regulations on state health insurance exchanges.

According to the HHS press release, the proposed regulations would give states some guidance and choice for structuring their exchanges.

As everyone and their mother knows by now, the health care reform bill has been a wee bit controversial, so there are plenty of skeptics and supporters to go around.

So it’s kind of funny that one of the doubters of the health care reform law was on hand for the secretary’s announcement.

Kaiser Health News reports that that skeptic is one of the store’s owners. (Eep! Awkward.)

“I am not confident at all that Obamacare will lower my costs,” Frager’s co-owner John Weintraub told KHN. “It seems like whenever the government does get involved in something like this, it never works out.”

Weintraub also told KHN that he hasn’t followed the health care debate closely, so maybe Sebelius still has time to turn him around.

With economy what it is, however, Weintraub is pretty pragmatic. He said he’s pleased that the store has been chosen for the announcement because of the publicity it brings.

Frager’s is a tried-and-true executive branch pick. In 2006, President George W. Bush picked up some chew toys for his pup, Barney, at Frager’s while chatting about the economy.

Recent Stories

Biden makes formal plea to Congress for disaster loan funds

One month out, Democrats say they are expanding House field

Supreme Court to decide cases on nuclear fuel storage, gun lawsuit

Calling Trump ‘petty’ and ‘vindictive,’ Liz Cheney makes conservative case for Harris

Bipartisan Senate bill prods US to help end Sudan war

Pentagon voices ‘significant concern’ with many NDAA provisions