Sec. Pritzker defending Sec. Sebelius over Obamacare rollout

WASHINGTON–Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker is defending Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, under attack for the botched roll out of the new Obamacare health insurance web based market places. President Barack Obama on Monday morning will address the glitches.

I asked Pritzker about the beating Sebelius is taking over the problems at HealthCare.gov. Pritzker replied, “I think she is working very hard to execute a very complex roll out of a really important endeavor for the country. And having had in my private life experience very significant technological rollouts, they’re hard and things go wrong. And I think for the long term, we just need to, I am sure there are very large teams working to fix what ever the challenges are. And I think we just have to take the long term view here.”

Since being sworn-in last June, Pritzker has been holding roundtables with business executives on the Affordable Care Act. Her shop is providing information to business about the law and also acts as a link between business and HHS.

Pritzker made her comments in an interview on Friday at her Commerce Department office. My story on Prizker being “open for business” is HERE.

Excerpt: On her first day on the job, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker hung up an old-fashioned “Open for Business” sign over a nail on the door to her cavernous, wood paneled office.

The Chicago business tycoon, civic leader and philanthropist—a billionaire member of one of one of the nation’s richest families—bought the sign to symbolically convey her mission at-a-glance.

“The biggest thing I can communicate to the business community,” Pritzker said, recalling a talk with President Barack Obama about her role at Commerce, “is that this administration is open for business and that there is someone in this job who can help them with their issues.”