Republican candidates for insurance commissioner want to give consumers more options

Editor’s note. Vicki Schmidt works as a pharmacist in the Topeka area. An earlier version of this story had incorrect information.

Two Republican candidates for Kansas insurance commissioner face off for the party nomination in one of just 11 states where the insurance commissioner is elected and not appointed.

Both Clark Shultz, assistant state insurance commissioner, and Vicki Schmidt, a Topeka state senator, emphasize the importance of bringing more insurance companies to Kansas to drive competitive pricing and give consumers more options.

Shultz, of McPherson, said the department brings new insurance companies to Kansas with cold calling. “It’s almost like we’re selling a vacuum cleaner,” he said.

Schmidt said Kansas can create a more favorable environment for competition by making sure “Kansas is open for business in our rules, regulations and statutes.”

The state insurance department is responsible for regulating, reviewing and auditing insurance companies to make sure they comply with insurance laws. It also settles disputes between Kansans and insurance companies.

The winner of the Aug. 7 Republican primary will face Democrat Nathaniel McLaughlin, a retired health industry administrator from Kansas City.

The two Republican candidates were divided on a 2014 bill that took a stand against the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The health care compact bill, which was passed by the Legislature but failed to garner approval from Congress, would have given Kansas control over federal healthcare dollars that come into the state.

Opponents of the bill, including then-insurance commissioner Sandy Praeger, said the compact bill could jeopardize Medicare for seniors in Kansas. Supporters said concerns about that were overblown.

Shultz, who served in the Kansas House at the time, voted in favor of the bill.

“I mildly supported it,” Shultz said in June, acknowledging that the bill was “a political deal.”

“There’s nothing going to come of it,” Shultz said. “It’s a non-issue. There’s been zero action on it.”

Schmidt voted against the compact bill. She said she was opposed to giving the state control over how federal healthcare dollars are spent.

“We (the state) wouldn’t have any guardrails on it. We could use that money for other things,” Schmidt said. “I want to protect that Medicare for seniors. And the same thing for Medicaid.”

“I’m not sure the state would make the best choices given a pot of money,” Schmidt said.

Shultz chaired the Kansas House Insurance Committee for 10 years. He ran for insurance commissioner in 2014, losing the Republican primary to Ken Selzer, who is leaving the seat because he is running for governor.

Shultz said his experience as an insurance auditor in the private sector is crucial to his run for state insurance commissioner. He said that auditing is a big part of the state insurance department’s job.

“A lot of what we (the Kansas Insurance Department) do . . . is about going out and making sure that companies are doing what they’re supposed to do.”

“I went to small companies and made sure that they were following state and federal law,” Shultz said. “I did that for 10 years.”

Shultz said the state insurance department’s job is to protect consumers and challenge companies when they deny insurance coverage.

“You have somebody whose wife or husband or child has been diagnosed with a serious, life-threatening disease,” Shultz said. “We want to have the appropriate people go to bat immediately.”

“When it’s life and death, that’s real stuff,” Shultz said.

Schmidt, who chairs both the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee and the Child Welfare System Task Force, agrees that the state insurance commissioner should be an advocate for Kansans.

“I became a pharmacist because I want to help people and that’s the same reason I would like to be insurance commissioner,” Schmidt said. “I think everybody needs an advocate.”

Just as important, Schmidt said, is the state insurance commissioner’s role as a regulator “to keep the bad apples out of the mix.”

Schmidt, who works as a pharmacist in the Topeka area, said she has firsthand experience in dealing with health insurance issues.

“I feel like I’ve had a lot of exposure to insurance and insurance issues,” Schmidt said. “I get to have those conversations at the counter.”

She said the rising cost of insurance is a common concern.

“What I hear people say over and over is the concern about the cost of insurance,” Schmidt said. “It’s past time that Kansans have had a discussion about the drivers of high cost.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2018 at 10:48 AM.