Feds Turn To Healthcare Industry to Donate to Help Implement ObamaCare

Need to increase enrollment to stave off disaster

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has gone hat in hand to health industry executives, asking them to make large financial donations to help with the effort to implement President Obama's landmark health-care law.

Her unusual fundraising push comes after Congress has repeatedly rejected the Obama administration's requests for additional funds to set up the Affordable Care Act, leaving Health and Human Services to implement the president's signature legislative accomplishment on a shoestring budget.

Sebelius has, over the past three months, made multiple phone calls to health industry executives, community organizations and church groups and directly asked that they contribute to non-profits that are working to enroll uninsured Americans and increase awareness of the law, according to a Health and Human Services official familiar with the Secretary's outreach who spoke on condition of anonymity.