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March 3, 2009 Tuesday 10:38 AM EST

657 words


Former NAIC President Sebelius Picked to Run HHS

Raymond J Lehmann

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama has tapped Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, placing a former state insurance commissioner in a key oversight position for the administration's planned overhaul of the health care system.

Sebelius, whose nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, served two terms as Kansas' insurance commissioner from 1995-2002, becoming the first Democrat elected to the post in more than a century. She served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2001, the same year she moved to block the for-profit conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas when Indiana-based Anthem proposed to acquire the company.

"She has a deep knowledge of what the burden of crushing costs does to our families and businesses. That's why she fought to guarantee Kansans access to quality, affordable health care and sought to secure it for every Kansas child from birth to age 5," Obama said in announcing Sebelius' nomination.

The governor is Obama's second pick for the post, which provides oversight to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, among other agencies. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination last month amidst questions about unpaid taxes, an issue that also has plagued several other Obama nominees.

Unlike Daschle, Sebelius is not being proposed to serve as head of the newly created White House Office of Health Reform. Obama separately named Nancy-Ann DeParle, former administrator of CMS' predecessor agency during the Clinton administration, to that post. The choices of both Sebelius and DeParle were welcomed by the health insurance industry.

"Gov. Sebelius is the right person to move the President's health care agenda forward. She is a proven leader with extensive knowledge of health care issues and a long history of working effectively across the political aisle," America's Health Insurance Plans President Karen Ignagni said in a statement. "As a former CMS administrator, Nancy-Ann DeParle brings considerable experience and a strong track record working on all of the health care issues facing the nation."

Under Obama's health care reform plan, there would be a federal mandate to purchase coverage for all children, while all but the smallest employers would face a "pay-or-play" requirement, in which they either provide minimum creditable coverage to their employees, or pay into a national pool. Subsidies would be offered to lower-income individuals purchasing through a National Health Insurance Exchange, and policies would have to meet federal mandates, with a minimum loss ratio. Guaranteed issue and community rating laws would be expanded nationwide, and a basic government-provided plan also would be available for all through the NHIE.

Confirmation hearings for Sebelius will be scheduled before the Senate Finance Committee. The panel's chairman, Max Baucus, D-Mont., is moving forward with a detailed plan to reform the U.S. health care system, including an individual mandate to purchase coverage, something Obama opposed on the campaign trail.

"Health care reform is my number one priority this year, and I'm ready to work with a strong partner like Gov. Sebelius to make it happen," Baucus said in a statement.

Recently, Obama unveiled an administration budget that would create a $634 billion health care reserve fund over 10 years, financed by a variety of tax increases and the virtual elimination of the Medicare Advantage program (BestWire, Feb. 26, 2009). He also announced in his news conference plans for a March 5 White House summit on health care reform that would bring "bringing together business and labor, doctors and insurers, Democrats and Republicans, as well as ordinary Americans from all walks of life."

(By R.J. Lehmann, Washington bureau manager: raymond.lehmann@ambest.com)

March 4, 2009

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