Sylvia Mathews Burwell Talks ACA on Meet the Press

Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell came to Meet the Press Sunday to talk about the second open enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").

??Burwell said that over 100,000 people submitted new applications on the first day on enrollment. Although she does note that number could be skewed due to technical issues such as duplicate accounts from lost passwords.

??Burwell also touted the populist previsions of the law - such as the ban on denying coverage due to preexisting conditions and the provision that allows children to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26.??

Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd pressed Burwell on the fact that the Obama administration originally predicted 13 million enrollees by this time, a figure that was recently lowered to 10 million, and also the recent controversial comments from Jonathan Gruber, who worked closely with the Obama administration in the law's formative stages and attributed the passage of the Affordable Care Act to both a "lack of transparency" and the "stupidity" of the American voter.

Burwell, who didn't work with Gruber, said she disagreed with Gruber and touted transparency - both good and bad. ??Burwell punted when asked if Gruber would ever be welcomed back as a consultant.

??All eyes have been on the Department of Health and Human Services after healthcare.gov opened up for open enrollment yesterday.

Analysts see Burwell's main concern as avoiding another botched rollout like that of last year, which happened under former Secretary Katherine Sebelius.

??Burwell's appearance of marks a departure from her low-profile strategy.

Earlier this month, she admitted to making a tactical decision to push doctors into the public eye regarding the Ebola crisis, noting that the public has far more trust in doctors than they do the government.