April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas governor who sees her mission as overhauling U.S. health care, was confirmed today as secretary of Health and Human Services, the agency directing the government’s efforts against swine flu.

The Senate voted 65-31 to confirm Sebelius, 60, a two-term Democratic governor who oversaw expansion of the Kansas children’s health insurance program. Her confirmation fills President Barack Obama’s last Cabinet post, putting her in charge of 65,000 employees and more than $700 billion in annual spending, mostly to insure the elderly and poor. The department also funds U.S. medical research while overseeing drug approvals and disease control.

Changes to the U.S. health care system that reduce the cost of medical care and expand insurance coverage are a priority for the administration, Obama has said. About 15 percent of the U.S. population lacks medical coverage, and the cost for those with insurance is rising faster than wage increases, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California. Crafting a health plan with Congress will be her “mission,” Sebelius told the Senate Finance Committee on April 2.

“She’s a problem solver, and that’s what Congress needs in a partner for health care reform,” Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Finance Committee, said in an e-mailed statement after the vote. “I look forward to working with the governor to create the high quality, low cost, easily accessible health care system America needs.”

Swearing-In Ceremony

Sebelius was sworn in tonight at the Oval Office, shortly after the confirmation.

“I expect her to hit the ground running,” Obama said after Sebelius took the oath of office. “We had to swear her in right away” because the outbreak of swine flu will need her “immediate attention.”

Sebelius went to the White House situation room after the ceremony for a briefing on the swine flu outbreak from Obama’s homeland security adviser, John Brennan.

In the Senate, nine Republicans joined the Democrats to back Sebelius as health chief. The Republicans included Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who today said he was switching parties.

Republicans who opposed Sebelius’s confirmation cited her ties to George Tiller, a Kansas doctor who performs abortions.

Sebelius wasn’t forthcoming during confirmation hearings about donations received from Tiller, Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, said on the floor.

Revised Testimony

Sibelius revised her written statement on financial contributions during the confirmation process. She initially told Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, that she received $12,450 during an eight-year period through 2001 from Tiller. She later amended her statement, saying a review showed she received $11,100 from Tiller, $2,250 from the doctor’s wife, $2,250 from Tiller’s clinic and $1,000 from a group supporting abortion rights, which “media reports” link with Tiller.

She also said a political action campaign group that mainly supported candidates for the Kansas Legislature had received a total of $23,000 from Tiller and his clinic.

“The leader of the Health and Human Services Department should be balanced and reasonable,” Bunning said during the floor debate. “There is nothing in Governor Sebelius’s record that makes me think she is either of these things when it comes to protecting the life of the unborn.”

Sebelius, who has said that she is personally opposed to abortion, told the Finance Committee that as governor she vetoed abortion bills because they threatened the constitutional rights or medical privacy of women.

Quick Action

The U.S. government can’t wait any longer for a health secretary, Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said on the floor before voting for her confirmation.

“The challenges facing the secretary are so serious,” he said, mentioning the spread of swine flu and the need for health-care overhaul. “She brings welcome experience.”

As health secretary, Sebelius will be in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, the government health plans for the elderly and poor, which together account for about one in three Americans.

Sebelius also will oversee the Food and Drug Administration, which polices food and medicines, the National Institutes of Health, responsible for government-funded medical research, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in charge of protecting public health. The CDC, in Atlanta, has been leading the U.S. swine flu response.

Seeking Bipartisan Effort

Sebelius, who governed Kansas with a Republican-majority legislature, said upon her nomination March 2 that she would work with Congress for bipartisan consensus on health change.

Obama has also created a new White House Office of Health Reform, headed by Nancy-Ann DeParle, 52, the chief of Medicare and Medicaid during the Clinton administration.

Obama gave lawmakers eight principles for change, including reducing health-care costs and guaranteeing that Americans can choose their health insurance even if they have employer- provided plans. The president has said he wants Congress to develop its own plan.

Former President Bill Clinton’s health-care overhaul proposals failed after his administration presented Congress with a 1,300-page plan that lawmakers said had too little input from them.

Debate on new legislation should begin in the Senate by June, Baucus has said. The House wants to vote on legislation by the August recess, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said April 22.

Obama’s first pick for the job of health chief, former Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle, withdrew after disclosing he paid $140,000 in back taxes and interest after his nomination.

The Cabinet includes heads of 15 departments in the government’s executive branch and the vice president, and advises the president.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aliza Marcus in Washington at amarcus8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 28, 2009 21:10 EDT