Obama nominates Kansas governor for HHS secretary

President Obama on March 2 announced Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his Health and Human Services secretary-designate, replacing former Sen. Tom Daschle (D, S.D.), who withdrew in early February.

Sebelius, governor since 2003, has supported expanded access to coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid. She previously served as the state's insurance commissioner, where she blocked a merger between Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas in 2002 because she feared premium increases.

Obama also appointed Nancy-Ann DeParle as counselor to the president and director of the White House Office for Health Reform. She ran the Health Care Financing Administration, now the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, from 1997 to 2000 and was a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

More recently, DeParle has been a managing director of the private investment firm CCMP Capital and an adjunct professor of health care systems at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reaction to the Sebelius nomination among physicians was largely positive. She "has demonstrated the leadership skills required to direct HHS and implement health system reform," said AMA President Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD. Jerry Slaughter, the Kansas Medical Society's executive director, said Sebelius has worked well with doctors.

Sen. Mike Enzi (R, Wyo.) the highest ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, offered a more cautious welcome to Sebelius. "I am eager to hear more about Gov. Sebelius' vision for the Dept. of Health and Human Services," Enzi said. "There are going to be areas where we disagree, but I hope and expect that by focusing on solutions, we can produce meaningful results for hard working Americans."

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/03/09/gvbf0309.htm.