Kansas on Track to Get Outsider Insurance Commissioner

Schmidt does not appear to be a visible player at the National Council of Insurance Legislators.

She has gained attention in Kansas for efforts to create an interstate licensing compact for nurses and to expand the state’s scope of practice for dental hygienists.

She has also gained attention for supporting efforts to have Kansas participate in a new Interstate Compact on Prescription Drug Monitoring, to fight the opioid abuse epidemic; to have Kansas accept federal Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion funding; and to shape efforts by the Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer, a Republican, to tighten the state’s Medicaid eligibility requirements.

Schmidt’s primary opponent, Clark Shultz, has been working as the deputy insurance commissioner at the Kansas Insurance Department. He has been a licensed title insurance agent and a title insurance auditor. While he was serving in the Kansas House, he was chairman of the House Insurance Committee. He teaches a class on insurance at Washburn University.

The Democrat

Nathaniel McLaughlin, the only Democratic candidate for insurance commissioner, is retired from a post as a district manager in the Mid-West district for Sodexo Healthcare Services.

McLaughlin was in charge of managing the company’s contracts with hospitals. Under those contracts, Sodexo supplied hospitals with services such as food services, environmental services and laundry services.

McLaughlin came to that post by working as the food services director for large hospitals in Durham, North Carolina, and in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Topeka Capital-Journal website, cjonline.com, ran an interview with McLaughlin July 14.

McLaughlin told the reporter who wrote the article that his main goals as insurance commissioner would be “ensure that the insurance marketplace is not a dark scary place” and to help the uninsured get health insurance.

He noted that he has had experience with managing health care services risk management programs.

The reporter asked McLaughlin, “Do you support expansion of Medicaid in Kansas?”

The reporter quotes McLaughlin as giving the following answer: “I support the expansion of Medicare. States like Kansas that did not expand Medicare have had a sharp increase in the number of uninsured citizens.”

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