Obama names Kansas gov as health secretary choice

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius gets her introduction to the reform debate at a White House summit Obama will convene on Thursday.

Obama introduced Sebelius on Monday as his choice to run HHS, including overseeing Medicare and Medicaid, the twin government health programs for the elderly and the poor. Their spiraling costs threat-en to bankrupt the country.

The 60-year-old, second-term governor has cultivated an image as someone who stands up to insurers.

She was state insurance commissioner in 2001 when Indianapolis-based Anthem Insurance Cos. Inc. offered to buy Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Kansas for $190 million as it sought to expand its holdings nationwide. It promised to maintain coverage levels.

Sebelius blocked the deal in February 2002 after concluding that premiums would rise under Anthem’s ownership. She prevailed when the state’s highest court overturned a lower court ruling that she had exceeded her authority by rejecting the offer.

Later that year, Sebelius made her decision against the merger a central component of her campaign for governor, using it to help craft her image as a staunch consumer advocate who would stand up to powerful special interests.

As the nation’s health secretary, Sebelius likely will face a similar, but bigger fight; pushing through the changes Obama outlined in the 2010 budget he released last week. It calls for setting aside $634 billion over 10 years as a down payment on health care overhaul.

About half the sum would come from spending cuts in government health programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

But the biggest cut of all - nearly$177 billion - would come from reducing payments to private insurance plans now serving about 10 million Medicare recipients, about one-fourth of the seniors and disabled people enrolled in the programs.

“Health care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve. It’s a necessity we have to achieve,” Obama said in the East Room of the White House as he introduced Sebelius.

Sebelius told Obama she shares his belief “that we can’t fix the economy without fixing health care.”

Obama also announced that he had chosen Nancy-Ann DeParleto run the White House Office for Health Reform. DeParle was a health policy figure during the Clinton administration.

Sebelius is subject to Senate confirmation; DeParle is not.

Both posts were to be filled by Tom Daschle, the former longtime senator from South Dakota. But Obama was left searching for replacements after Daschle withdrew from consideration about a month ago after disclosing he failed to pay $140,000 in taxes and interest.

As of last fall, DeParle sat on several corporate boards serving health and medical-related interests, including Medco Health Solutions Inc., Care More Health Plan and Legacy Hospital Partners. Most came about through her service as managing director for health care at CCMP Capital, a private equity firm with ownership stakes in those private companies.

Questioned about DeParle’s corporate board service, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that the White House was confident in DeParle and her abilities as part of the coming health care reform effort. He said he assumed she would resign from the boards.

As insurance commissioner, Sebelius also sought to require insurance companies to cover birth control for women. Insurance lobbyists and anti-abortion groups opposed the proposal, and it died in the state Legislature.

She also cut state workers’ compensation rates by more than 11 percent, when the industry wanted a more than 4 percent increase. And she has argued that patients should be allowed to sue insurance companies over their decisions.

A Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights, Sebelius’ nomination prompted angry reactions from antiabortion groups outraged by her ties to Dr. George Tiller, a late term abortion provider in Wichita, Kan. Groups including Operation Rescue and Concerned Women for America vowed to mobilize against her. The American Life League said it was rolling out a “STOP Sebelius” petition and asking other groups to join.

Labor unions, the American Medical Association, the Hispanic advocacy group National Council of La Raza and America’s Health Insurance Plans, the insurance industry trade group, applauded the nomination.

“There is nobody in America in my mind that is more radically sold out to the abortion lobby than Kathleen Sebelius,” said Troy Newman, president of Kansas-based Operation Rescue.

But such criticism did not appear to be translating, at least immediately, into opposition among senators who will vote on her nomination.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., one of the Senate’s leading social conservatives, issued a joint statement with Roberts that seemed to accept Sebelius’ nomination as a done deal.