As the nation’s top health official and leader of one of the federal government’s largest departments, the secretary of Health and Human Services makes life-or-death decisions every day that affect millions of Americans.
But not all important work is serious.
One former HHS secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, recalled a highlight of her tenure: recording a public service message with “Sesame Street.” “The Elmo commercial was to teach kids how to sneeze,” she said. “We were trying to spread good health habits.”
The script called for Sebelius to ask her co-star to “bend your elbow and sneeze into your arm.”
“Elmo has no elbow,” the beloved red Muppet replied, veering off script. So, Sebelius said, they swapped roles: “Elmo taught me how to sneeze.”
Her story punctuated a rare, intimate conversation Wednesday with three HHS secretaries, past and present — and across party lines. Secretary Xavier Becerra, the agency’s current leader, joined Sebelius, who worked under then-President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2014, and Alex Azar, who worked under then-President Donald Trump from 2018 to 2021. Their candid discussion took place at Aspen Ideas: Health, part of the Aspen Ideas Festival, about the job each of them held.
The panel discussion, taped in Aspen, Colorado, before a standing room-only crowd, was hosted as a live episode of KFF Health News’ weekly policy news podcast, …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
As the nation’s top health official and leader of one of the federal government’s largest departments, the secretary of Health and Human Services makes life-or-death decisions every day that affect millions of Americans.
But not all important work is serious.
One former HHS secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, recalled a highlight of her tenure: recording a public service message with “Sesame Street.” “The Elmo commercial was to teach kids how to sneeze,” she said. “We were trying to spread good health habits.”
The script called for Sebelius to ask her co-star to “bend your elbow and sneeze into your arm.”
“Elmo has no elbow,” the beloved red Muppet replied, veering off script. So, Sebelius said, they swapped roles: “Elmo taught me how to sneeze.”
Her story punctuated a rare, intimate conversation Wednesday with three HHS secretaries, past and present — and across party lines. Secretary Xavier Becerra, the agency’s current leader, joined Sebelius, who worked under then-President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2014, and Alex Azar, who worked under then-President Donald Trump from 2018 to 2021. Their candid discussion took place at Aspen Ideas: Health, part of the Aspen Ideas Festival, about the job each of them held.
The panel discussion, taped in Aspen, Colorado, before a standing room-only crowd, was hosted as a live episode of KFF Health News’ weekly policy news podcast, …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]