Sebelius: ‘We keep going’ if court strikes down mandate to have insurance

There are other ways to bring healthy people into the healthcare system if the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate in President Obama’s healthcare law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in an interview Monday.

Part of Sebelius’s appearance on “The Daily Show” did not make the televised broadcast and was posted online Tuesday morning.

Sebelius said she’s confident the Supreme Court will uphold the mandate, but that there are alternatives if it doesn’t.

{mosads}”I think we keep going,” she said. “We find ways to encourage people to become enrolled and become insured. And the mandate’s the fastest way to do it, and it just says, basically, everybody’s got some responsibility. But there are other ways to encourage people to come in.”

The extended interview, like the portion that aired Monday, ventures relatively deep into the weeds of healthcare policy and the new reform law. Host Jon Stewart asked Sebelius whether employers would eventually quit providing healthcare coverage.

“So can the employers dump you into the exchange?” he asked.

Sebelius said the healthcare law will fill in gaps in the employer-based health insurance system, rather than overtaking it.