Sebelius is a former insurance commissioner.

[Skidmore]

I'm not real enthralled with someone from that industry being in charge of HHS. We need someone who can think outside of that box.

[crimsonblue]

1. She served as Insurance Commisioner for the State of Kansas

plus, she refused to accept campaign contributions from insurers and she blocked the merger of Kansas's largest health insurance company with a company from Indiana. I can TOTALLY see your point on this all making her disqualified. FAIL!

[Skidmore]

3. Who said anything about making her disqualified? I said I didn't

want to see someone from the insurance industry in the position. We need to be thinking outside of that model right now rather than having the reflex to be preserve the current system.

[crimsonblue]

5. she's not from the insurance industry, you dolt.

being an insurance commissioner for the state is far different than being in the insurance industry. That's like saying you don't want somebody to run the DoD because they were a soldier 15 years ago.

[Skidmore]

7. I know what an insurance commissioner does having worked

around one in my own state. They aren't exactly disinterested parties as to the state of the industry.

Now, do you have anyone else you care to call names?

[crimsonblue]

8. no, just you. You're doing such a good job conflagrating her position.

Plus, if she was 'tainted', would she have declined insurance Co. campaign contributions or blocked insurance company mergers?

[Skidmore]

9. Tainted? You said that.

I'm talking about getting someone who can see outside of an industry model to participate in reconceptualizing the healthcare delivery and reimbursement system. Perhaps we can start with you reconsidering what I'm saying.

[crimsonblue]

11. Maybe you should reconsider the fact that you're saying stupid things.

It is idiotic to the point of mental retardation to put somebody into the position that has no understanding of what the job entails. Somebody who understands the insurance industry will be very beneficial in restructuring it, instead of just swinging wildly with a scalpel.

[midnight]

2. I agree. Being part of an industry that has caused so much

grief for the consumer is not my idea of assisting the problem at hand.

[MadHound]

4. Well d'uh,

God forbid they have a real progressive or liberal in HHS. Can't have one of those radical notions, like single payer UHC get loose. After all, it's only the majority of the US population that favors UHC, not corporate masters that control our government.

[Seen the light]

6. I hope she stays as governor because I want to see her run for Brownback's open seat

I'd much rather have her in the Senate than at HHS.

[WyLoochka]

10. It depends on

if she did her job as Insurance Commissioner. Part of that job is to whack insurance companies when they get out of line.

Insurance Commissioners are in a watch dog and often, adversarial, position to insurance companies. They are supposed to protect the state residents from the ravenous greed and corruption that insurance companies are prone to.

Kansans should be able to tell us whether she was a door mat or an effective watch dog.

[SheilaT]

12. She was the best insurance commissioner

Kansas ever had. Maybe the best any state ever had. She came from outside the insurance industry, would not take political contributions from the industry, and changed things so that the public was far better served than the insurance industry itself.

She would be wonderful for HHS, although the state of Kansas probably needs her more as Governor, and perhaps as senator in a couple of years, than the country does.

Unfortunately, you are making assumptions about her that simply are not true.

[KT2000]

13. She will know the score

Insurance commissioners are the regulators of the insurance companies - insurance is regulated at the state level.
They know better than anyone how the insurance companies screw people. Ours is always trying to pass more consumer protections (he started out pro-industry but changed when he saw how things really worked) and has his hardest time getting people to support him!