President Obama To Nominate Kansas Gov. Sebelius as HHS Secretary
President Obama on Monday will nominate Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) to serve as HHS secretary, according to an administration official, The Hill reports (Jacobs, The Hill, 2/28). The nomination comes after former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) withdrew his nomination for the post because of tax issues (Alonzo-Zaldivar, Associated Press, 3/2). Daschle had been selected as HHS secretary as well as director of the new White House Office of Health Reform, but Sebelius will fill only the HHS role, The Politico reports (Allen/Budoff Brown, The Politico, 2/28). The nomination is subject to approval by the Senate.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Sebelius' "health care experience stems primarily from her eight years as state insurance commissioner and her work as governor overseeing the Medicaid health program for the poor" (Fletcher/Connolly, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/1). As insurance commissioner, she "achieved national recognition" by blocking the sale of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, which she claimed would have caused premiums to increase, according to the Washington Post. She also succeeded in having Kansas join a multi-state consortium for purchasing prescription drugs from Canada and added "tens of thousands of children from low-income households to state programs" during her two terms as governor, the Post reports (Fletcher, Washington Post, 3/2). However, the New York Times reports that Sebelius "has failed to make significant improvements in health coverage or cost during her two terms as governor" in part because of the "philosophical gulf" between the Democratic governor and Republican-led state Legislature (Sack, New York Times, 3/2).
The nomination comes as the Obama administration on Thursday plans to hold a White House summit on how to overhaul the health care system. About 120 individuals from Congress, industry groups and the U.S. public have been invited to the summit (Meckler, Wall Street Journal, 3/2).
Comments
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in an e-mailed statement said that he hopes Sebelius will "bring different points of view together to tackle the challenges of health reform" (Kelley, USA Today, 3/2). Former Clinton administration health adviser Chris Jennings said, "She is not some Johnny-come-lately to the debate," adding that she is a "good choice" for the effort to overhaul the health care system (Helling et al., Wichita Eagle, 3/1).
Kansas Sens. Sam Brownback (R) and Pat Roberts (R) in a joint statement congratulating Sebelius on the nomination noted the "huge pricetag" of reforming health care. They wrote, "We have real concerns about the president's budget, which includes an additional $634 billion for health care, ... which is made up of tax increases and major cuts to programs critical to Kansas seniors." State Senate President Steve Morris (R) said Sebelius has seen how Medicaid can consume state budgets and will bring that knowledge to the health care debate (Kraske, Kansas City Star, 2/28).
White House Office of Health Reform
The Obama administration on Saturday said that there likely will be a separate person overseeing the White House Office of Health Reform and that the scope and responsibilities of that position are still being discussed, The Politico reports (The Politico, 2/28). According to the Post, a possible selection for the position could be former Clinton administration adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle (Washington Post, 3/1).
NPR's "Morning Edition" on Monday reported on the expected nomination of Sebelius as HHS secretary, as well as the prospects for health care reform legislation (Wertheimer, "Morning Edition," NPR, 3/2).
