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March 10, 2026
Podcast episode 45: Kathleen Sebelius
Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 45, we interview former Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She served as the 21st secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services from 2009-14. As HHS secretary, Sebelius was instrumental in overseeing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Before becoming secretary, she served as the 44th governor of Kansas from 2003-09, the second woman to hold that office. She currently serves as CEO of Sebelius Resources, LLC, as well as co-chair of the Aspen Institute Health Strategy Group, a nonpartisan group addressing critical U.S. health challenges.
In this episode, Secretary Sebelius discusses how she grew up around politics, with her dad first running for public office when she was just 5 years old.
“I didn’t know families went to football games and picnics. I thought they went door to door and put up yard signs,” she said. “So I kind of grew up in a political family and learned that that was a pretty exciting way to have some influence for the good on your community and on your country.”
Her dad won office and became a city councilman, then a Congressman and then ultimately governor of Ohio. When Sebelius became governor of Kansas in 2003, she became the first daughter of a governor to become governor.
However, she didn’t initially set out to run for office herself. Though she worked on campaigns for others running for office, she never foresaw becoming a candidate herself.
However, her neighbor — whose campaign Sebelius had worked on — approached her and said she wasn’t going to run for office again and encouraged her to run for the seat in the Kansas Legislature.
At the time, her husband was a busy trial attorney, and she served as the director of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association. She was traveling a lot and working many hours, as was her husband.
“Frankly, I ran for the Legislature not to achieve higher political offices, but to go home,” she said. “It was a part-time job.”
However, she went on to find a career in public service.
“I’d say I backed in to a political career in some ways to really try to find a little balance between my family life and my professional life,” she said.
That decision to first run for office led to four terms in the Kansas Legislature, two terms as the Kansas insurance commissioner, and six years as Kansas governor before ultimately serving in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
In this episode, she also discusses:
- Her experience as insurance commissioner
- Her time as governor working on health issues
- The Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- Medicaid expansion
- A recent report by the Aspen Institute Health Strategy Group that addresses rural health care
- The value of people within a community working together to improve health and how health is at the center of economic development
- The importance of modernizing infrastructure
- The Rural Health Transformation Fund
- ACA premium tax credits
- How community conversations can play a role in improving health care
- What gives her hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Secretary Sebelius is an innovative leader in Kansas.
Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.
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