Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Vice President of Navajo Nation Rex Lee Jim and Administration for Native Americans Commissioner Lillian Sparks Robinson are pictured here at a recent tribal consultation session in Washington, D.C. Photo from HHS

Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is leaving the Obama administration after six years in office.

Sebelius, a former governor of Kansas, consulted tribal leaders and visited Indian Country during her tenure. But her department struggled on two major issues: contract support costs and the Affordable Care Act.

After losing two U.S. Supreme Court cases, the administration this year finally announced full funding for contract support costs in self-determination contracts. The Indian Health Service, however, still owes hundreds of millions of dollars to tribes and Alaska Natives in back payments.

Following a decade-long fight that preceded her arrival to HHS, Sebelius finally saw the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act in 2010 through the Affordable Care Act. But the success was overshadowed by technical mishaps with the ACA website that initially prevented millions of Americans from signing up for health insurance.

President Barack Obama, who did not make a statement about Sebelius' departure, intends to nominate White House Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell to the HHS post, according to news reports.

Get the Story:
Kathleen Sebelius to step down as HHS secretary; OMB director will take her place (The Washington Post 4/11)
Sebelius Resigns After Troubles Over Health Site (The New York Times 4/11)