Kathleen Sebelius

And under Obamacare, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against women. Before, some wouldn't cover women's most basic needs, like contraception and maternity care, but would still charge us up to 50 percent more than men - for a worse plan.

While closing our innovation gaps won't solve all our problems, we have some very real opportunities to improve the quality of care that's delivered to millions of Americans.

What we've been finding is that when you remove the barriers to innovation, you can actually hold costs down while lifting entrepreneurs up and getting better health results.

There's a digital revolution taking place both in and out of government in favor of open-sourced data, innovation, and collaboration.

I've spent my career fighting the worst practices of insurance companies.

From 1965 to 1967, my dad, Jack Gilligan, served in Congress and helped pass landmark laws like the Voting Rights Act.

In this 21st century world, some of our country's most significant exports and imports extend beyond goods and services: They also include innovation, knowledge, discovery, and healing.

To me, part of the magic of this era is that the very same innovations, discoveries, and technologies that are allowing us to live longer, healthier lives are also creating a healthier economy.

A lot of the discussion about rolling back the Affordable Care Act is about dismantling the marketplaces where individuals are shopping for their own coverage when they don't get it in their workplace.

If you're under 26, you can stay on your parents' plan. You can go back to school or get extra training without fear of a health catastrophe bankrupting your family. Over three million previously uninsured young adults are now on their parents' plans.

But wishing our Kansas soldiers 'God speed' is not enough. We need to comfort, care for, and protect their families. And we should ease the financial burdens that these families often face.

The way the law is written, people who are under 250 percent of poverty, who have a marketplace plan, also are eligible to have some of their deductible and co-pay expenses paid through cost-sharing. Insurance companies basically front the money and are reimbursed by the federal government, by HHS.