Insurance commissioner candidate visits GC

April 21--A candidate for insurance commissioner who also serves as a state senator in a number of leadership roles that put her on the front lines of the school funding battle came to Garden City on Friday.

Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka, visited the offices of the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce as part of what she described as a tour to field constituents' concerns.

Schmidt will face off against Deputy Insurance Commissioner Clark Schultz in the Republican primary. Ken Selzer, the current insurance commissioner, is running for governor, and Schmidt has said she would not have challenged him if he sought re-election. Thus far, no Democrats have announced their candidacy for the position.

Schmidt currently chairs the Senate's Public Health and Welfare Committee and the Child Welfare System Task Force. She also chairs budget subcommittees on health and social services. She was the only Senate chair to vote against the school funding bill that passed the Senate earlier this month that would have phased in $275 million over five years, despite efforts by Senate leadership to strong-arm an affirmative vote.

In her 13 years in the Kansas Senate, Schmidt has developed a reputation as a maverick in a legislative environment that tends to enforce towing the party line.

If Schmidt gets elected as insurance commissioner in November, she would forfeit her role as a senator, along with her leadership positions.

As the state's insurance commissioner, Schmidt would be charged with regulating any insurance sold in Kansas. When she announced her candidacy in January, she expressed a special interest in issues related to health insurance.

Schmidt, 62, has worked as a pharmacist in Kansas for 40 years and says that experience gives her more insight into insurance issues. Her campaign materials touted her implementation of reforms to the Kansas Medical Assistance Program that saved taxpayers more than $391 million.

Schmidt also fought to protect Medicare for Kansas' seniors and ensure insurance coverage for children with autism, something her primary opponent, Deputy Insurance Commissioner Clark Shultz, voted against during his time as a lawmaker.

When asked what inspired her to run for insurance commissioner, she said she wants to advocate for people and fight to make insurance issues less complicated.

"When I say advocacy, that is advocacy for the consumer, for the agents and for the companies," Schmidt said. "If there's one thing I think I'm known for, it's that I'm very persistent, and I think sometimes people have questions about things that they don't have answers to and even now I don't always like the answers I get, but I think everybody deserves to have an answer."

Last year, Schmidt was among 25 other senators to vote for the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Former Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed the bill, and the House failed to override that veto. Sitting Gov. Jeff Colyer also has historically opposed Medicaid expansion.

Another similar Medicaid expansion bill passed out of the Senate health committee in February, but Schmidt said Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning has not allowed the full Senate to debate the bill.

Now, lawmakers are tasked with legislating a solution to an error in the recently passed school funding bill. The existing bill contains a provision that went unnoticed by lawmakers and reduces the intended $150 million in additional school funding next year to $72 million. Schmidt said the time crunch likely would negate any possibility of passing a Medicaid expansion bill this session.

"I think we were all clear on what the legislative intent was, and somehow we didn't get that in the bill in the correct way," Schmidt said. "It is certainly my hope and desire that the Supreme Court approves of it. But we have a job to do when we get back because what the governor signed probably doesn't do it."

Though Schmidt says she is still passionate about Medicaid expansion, she would no longer have say on relevant legislation in her prospective role as insurance commissioner.

"I think there are many, many people in the Senate and the House that have the same passion in some of the same issues that I do that can carry that torch on," Schmidt said. "I think it's important to have succession planning and to help people understand the importance of some of these issues."

Contact Mark Minton at [email protected].

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