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After two weeks of guessing the governor’s plans for the future, Kansans got their answer when President Barack Obama introduced Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services yesterday afternoon.

The nomination brings both excitement and concerns to Kansas, as the state is pushed into the spotlight and the future of some policies lie in question.

Bill Lacy, director of the Robert. J. Dole Institute of Politics, said Kansas would be affected in a multitude of ways.

“You can’t take someone out of the mix who has been as engaged and involved as Sebelius and not feel any effects,” Lacy said.

Andrew Toth, Colby sophomore and president of KU Young Democrats, said one of the current policies that would be in question would be the power of the Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment.

Sebelius said recently a bill limiting the secretary’s power and allowing more coal plants to be built in southwestern Kansas would be dead on arrival if it reached her desk.

She also passed Kansas’ 2009 budget after disagreeing with Republicans over the amount of funding that should be cut from K-12 education in mid-February.

Although Sebelius was a Democratic governor in a Republican state, Alex Herman, Hays second-year law student, said Sebelius’ ability to negotiate with both parties was a quality Kansans would miss.

“She really worked for Kansas instead of special interests,” Herman said.

Toth said Sebelius’ bipartisan abilities would help her in Washington, where she would oversee an organization that controlled $760 billion annually and both Medicare and Medicaid. She will also be in charge of overseeing the reformation of public health care.

Last week Obama set aside a $634 billion “down payment” to start the renovations of the health care systems and work toward his dream of universal health care.

“Health care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve — it’s a necessity we have to achieve,” Obama said as he introduced Sebelius yesterday afternoon. In his announcement he called health care reform a fiscal imperative and part of his economic overhaul.

Taking on the current health care system will be a huge task for Sebelius, say some political analysts, citing her failure to implement a cigarette tax in order to expand Kansas’ health care coverage. The National Coalition on Health Care reported that in 2007 nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under 65, didn’t have health insurance.

“Nominating Sebelius is a plus for health care,” Toth said, “Obama couldn’t have picked a better candidate.”

Sebelius was the Kansas insurance commissioner for eight years, from 1995-2003, until she was elected governor.

Speculations on the possibility of Sebelius becoming the next secretary of HHS began when she visited with an Obama aide on a routine trip to Washington. Sebelius, who had been an avid Obama supporter during his campaign, was named his second pick for the cabinet position after his first choice, Tom Daschle, withdrew his nomination.

— — Edited by Melissa Johnson

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