By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — A former state legislator, Phil Hermanson, has been named inspector general for Kansas’ Medicaid programs.

Hermanson’s first day on the job was April 28. He replaced Bill Gale, a former Sedgwick County election commissioner who resigned to become director of the Department for Children and Families regional office in Wichita.

The inspector general position had been vacant since Gale’s exit in early January.
Hermanson, a Wichita Republican, served two, two-year terms in the House. He resigned midway into his third term in October 2013, saying he wanted to spend more time with his new wife and stepchildren.

In legislative circles, Hermanson, 49, is well-known for having proposed to his girlfriend, Rhonda Riggs, on bended knee in front of a chamber full of House colleagues near the end of last year’s legislative session. They later married.

Hermanson was vice chair of the House Insurance Committee in 2013. He also served on the House Health and Human Services Committee.

A graduate of Goddard High School, he spent six years in the U.S. Navy, becoming a deep sea diver. While in the Navy, he attended the University of Virginia.

Upon returning to Wichita, Hermanson became a commercial real estate agent and property manager.

As inspector general he will oversee audits of the state’s KanCare contractors – Amerigroup, UnitedHealthcare and Sunflower State Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene – and