Calmly competent Republican recovers millions for Kansas insurance consumers | Opinion

Vicki Schmidt is the kind of government official that Kansans should want more of: calm, competent and Republican.

She almost never makes headlines. She just does the job we pay her to do — which is to regulate insurance companies to make sure Kansans get a fair shake.

Schmidt is the Kansas insurance commissioner, a position she’s held since 2018, when she left the state Senate after 14 years as a legislator.

Hardly anyone ever writes much about Schmidt, including me. What triggered this column is that one of the most important duties of the Insurance Department is to advocate for Kansans disputing insurance company denials and underpayments.

It’s a responsibility that Schmidt takes seriously, and it’s been paying off for Kansans, especially the last two years.

The department recovered $11.8 million for Kansas insurance consumers in 2024, according to figures released Friday.

Johnson County, the state’s largest, got the biggest chunk of that, nearly $1.75 million, closely followed by Shawnee County, $1.6 million and Sedgwick County, $1.49 million.

Schmidt’s department set the record for recoveries in 2023, at $16 million. While overall recovery was down year-to-year, the number of complaints about insurance companies was up — 3,678 in 2024 versus 3,043 in 2023.

“Consumer assistance is one of my top priorities,” Schmidt said in a statement releasing the figures. “If you have an issue with insurance, I want to hear from you.”

I looked back through the press releases I’ve gotten from Schmidt over the years and it’s a long list dominated by consumer alerts, reports on investigations of insurance fraudsters and updates on Schmidt’s doings as a regional chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

She also is responsible for distributing the state’s 2% tax on fire insurance to the state’s firefighter relief associations, a fund established in 1895 to provide financial support for injured firefighters, or the families of those killed in the line of duty. Last year, it totaled $18.9 million.

What were conspicuous by absence in Schmidt’s press releases were hot takes on hot-button issues.

While other Kansas GOP politicians rail against the Affordable Care Act, Schmidt tells you how to get the most out of it.

Her approach to public service stands in stark contrast to more ambition-driven Kansas Republican politicians, who throw rhetorical bombs and trip over each other trying to land coveted minutes pontificating on Fox News. No need to name names, because we all know who they are.

But if you Google “Vicki Schmidt” and “Fox News,” you won’t find much.

There’s a 2023 news story when she announced that she was fighting breast cancer but would remain on the job — she underwent surgery and radiation treatment, and is now cancer-free.

And there’s a story from 2016 when she was among female legislators who stood up to then-state Sen. Mitch Holmes when he imposed a sexist dress code on women testifying before committees he chaired. Holmes, a St. John Republican, wound up rescinding the code and apologizing.

While other Kansas politicians proclaim family values, Schmidt leads by example.

She was born and reared in Wichita, went to South High, married her high school sweetheart in 1974, and they’ve been together ever since. They went to the University of Kansas together, where she graduated from pharmacy school and became a pharmacist, while he graduated from medical school and became a surgeon. They raised two children and are now grandparents.

In these tempestuous political times when voters seem to reward the most bombastic candidates making the most outlandish claims, you might think a low-key, do-your-job officeholder like Schmidt would be vulnerable.

But Kansas voters seem to feel otherwise.

The last time she was on the ballot, in 2022, she got the highest percentage of the vote of any statewide candidate, 63%.

Electorally, she was more popular than U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, 60%; Secretary of State Scott Schwab, 58%; Treasurer Steven Johnson, 54%; Attorney General Kris Kobach, 50% and Gov. Laura Kelly, 49%.

Maybe there’s a lesson there for other Kansas politicians: If you work for the people, the people might just work for you.

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