This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

My weekend column played Six Degrees of Separation with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Pat Roberts and how Obamacare is making enemies out of old friends:

— Old pals Sebelius and Roberts split by tea party — George Pyle | The Salt Lake Tribune

"The state insurance commissioner — who everyone knew had both the ambition and the ability for higher office — demonstrated both when she sent me a note of congratulations concerning the big-time journalism award I had almost won.

"'You ought to have yourself cloned,' Kathleen Sebelius wrote.

"'I would,' I replied, 'except my insurance doesn't cover it.'" ...

Meanwhile, in Kansas City, Barbara Shelly finds that Obamacare is making some unexpected friends:

— For some GOP governors, embracing Obamacare is smart politics — Barbara Shelly | The Kansas City Star

Ohio's staunchly Republican governor used an obscure legislative panel to conduct an end run around his GOP-controlled legislature last week and accept $2.5 billion in federal funds to expand the state's Medicaid program. ...

Elseweb:

— But what if Obamacare works? — Ross Douthat | The New York Times

— Obamacare will work, in the end — Bloomberg View Editorial

... Let's remember why this project was undertaken in the first place. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the United States' only plausible shot at providing health insurance for all its citizens — something that voters in other advanced economies have long taken entirely for granted. ...

— Why Obamacare is so complicated — Paul Krugman | The New York Times (Because it isn't just Medicare for all.)

— Obamacare fooled by glamour of technology — Virginia Postrel | Bloomberg View

... Whether it's a television detective instantly checking a database of fingerprints or the ease of Amazon.com's "1-Click" button, we imagine that software is a kind of magic - all the more so if it's software we've never actually experienced. We expect it to be effortless. We don't think about how it got there or what its limitations might be. Instead of imagining future technologies as works in progress, improving over time, we picture them as perfect from day one. ...

— Obamacare is not being repealed — Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas |Wonkblog / The Washington Post

... The law could succeed wildly in some states while failing in others. It's easy to imagine a world in which California's all-out effort on behalf of the law and Texas's all-out obstruction lead to California having a best-in-class, near-universal health-care system while Texas's health-care system collapses into even more of a mess than it already is. ...

[Texas? Or, maybe Utah?]