The disastrous roll out of the Affordable Care Act raises a litany of questions about President Barack Obama 's leadership and management ability . But it also begs for an answer to who would take the fall . As problems mount , Rep. Nick Rahall , D-West Virginia , said Thursday that `` heads should have rolled '' at the White House . Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius , the woman in charge of implementing Obamacare , took the blame for a flawed HealthCare.gov website , even as calls mounted -- inside and outside of Washington - for her to be fired . Testifying before a hostile congressional committee , Sebelius said she should be held accountable for the online site that stumbled out of the starting gate on October 1 and wo n't be functioning smoothly for most people -- according to Obama , himself -- until the end of the month . `` I 'm responsible , '' she told lawmakers . But Obama had her back . White House Spokesman Jay Carney said the President has `` full confidence '' in Sebelius . Eric Dezenhall , crisis management expert and CEO of Dezenhall Resources , said that an age-old White House policy is that federal agencies take the blame and the White House collects the props . But as letters started landing in people 's mailboxes , notifying them that their health insurance plans were being canceled , Sebelius might have been in deeper hot water , except that Obama promised when selling Obamacare that people could keep their plans if they like them . That was not true in the end . Obama takes brunt of new storm . People were given false assurance . Sebelius shrunk out of the spotlight as Obama 's unkept promise took the brunt of a new storm . It culminated in a public apology on Thursday when Obama -- also talking about the website -- acknowledged that he `` fumbled '' the launch of his signature domestic policy achievement . While Obama is taking responsibility publicly , internally he is faced with many questions , including why his staff let him make such a claim if it was n't true . Should Sebelius have known ? She was responsible for overseeing the implementation and creation of the specifics of Obamacare . Additionally , as a former insurance commissioner responsible for approving or rejecting coverage plans for Kansas consumers , it seemed like she would have had an understanding of the impact as federal coverage standards changed to become more robust . And some insurance commissioners are troubled by the President 's proposal to allow a one year extension of individual health plans -- those most likely to be canceled . Sebelius ' successor , Sandy Praeger , said she and her fellow insurance commissioners around the country warned the administration early on . `` We said from the get-go that if you start taking pieces out of this , it will collapse , '' Praeger told the Lawrence Journal World . Should someone be fired ? `` I think there is limited utility in just firing people , but if you need to do it for political reasons , it 's always an option , '' Dezenhall said . Dezenhall cautioned , however , that this is not an acute problem but a chronic one , and firing Sebelius wo n't make everything magically better . Even if Obama chose to fire Sebelius , he would need to replace her , and that may be the ultimate reason why she may stay on for now . Not only would it take time for a new health secretary to get up to speed , a permanent replacement requires Senate confirmation -- lately an unappealing prospect for Obama . Finding someone else would likely subject Obama to a damaging political fight with Republicans determined to draw as much attention to the problematic components of Obamacare . CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein said that a new health nominee would ensure `` virtual certainty '' for Republicans to `` use this as kind of a way to leverage more concessions from the administration . '' CNN 's chief political analyst , Gloria Borger , said Sebelius ' head would roll at some point . `` He 's very deliberate . In the end , will she go ? Eventually . But there are lots of other issues she 's got to deal with first , '' Borger said . But for now , this is Obama 's problem . It is called Obamacare , not Sebeliuscare . `` Hiding ceases to be an option , '' Dezenhall said . `` Hiding is an option when you have a place to hide and when no one is looking . It 's not an option when there 's no place to hide and everyone 's looking . ''
More trouble for the White House puts more pressure on the White House Secretary Nick Rahall . Rep. Kathleen Sebelius , D-West Virginia , said 'heads should have rolled ' over disastrous roll out . Crisis management expert says federal agencies take the blame and Health collects the props .