Governor-elect Sam Brownback said Thursday that he will “push back” against federal health reform at every opportunity.
But what that means for the law’s implementation in Kansas remains unclear.
At his first news conference as governor-elect, Brownback said one of the messages voters sent on election day was that the health reform law supported by President Obama and congressional Democrats goes too far, too fast.
“I think it ought to be repealed and replaced with something far more modest that is an incremental approach to improving health care,” he said. “So, I’m going to push back every chance I get.”
More urgent issues
But Burdett Loomis, a University of Kansas political science professor, said Brownback’s ability as governor to influence the national debate on health reform will be limited. And he will immediately be forced to focus on more urgent issues, such as the state’s continuing budget problems and a looming legal battle over education funding.
At the press conference announcing the members of his transition team, Brownback said his first priority as governor would be reviving the state’s economy and job growth.
As a consequence, Loomis said, Brownback’s opposition to health reform is likely to be more symbolic than substantial, similar to the way some governors initially opposed the federal stimulus program but later used the money it provided for transportation and other projects in their states.
“I think that Brownback, who has political ambitions obviously, and who wants to be seen as a good governor, will operate in the broad interests of the state,” Loomis said. “And one of the things that means is complying with the law and allowing (Insurance Commissioner) Sandy Praeger to implement it even as he may rail against it at the national level.”
Loomis served a brief stint as an aide to former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat who left office to become U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the agency with the lead role in implementing the health reform law and writing its regulations.
Praeger, a Republican who this week won a third term as the state’s insurance regulator, supports the reform law and is playing a national role in its implementation through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Her leadership on the controversial issue is politically advantageous for Brownback, Loomis said.
Some advantages
“Brownback comes into office with some advantages,” he said. “And ironically, one advantage…is having Sandy Praeger work on behalf of health care (reform) even while he may symbolically oppose it.”
The fact that some of the Kansas businesses most directly affected by the reform law aren’t calling for its repeal may also influence the political discussion. Recently, Andrew Corbin, president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state’s largest health insurer, said the company was eager to “get on” with implementation of the reform law. And Jerry Slaughter, executive director of the Kansas Medical Society, which represents about 5,000 doctors, told members of the Kansas Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Oversight on Thursday that while some parts of the law may need to be changed, others will benefit the state and his members.
“There is an awful lot of uncertainty about the bill and how it may turn out when the regulations are finally written, but there are also some good things in it,” Slaughter said in an interview following his testimony.