Topeka ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius put her top health policy adviser in charge Wednesday of administering seven programs that provide medical coverage to those in need and state employees.

Her appointment of Bob Day is a step toward reorganizing health programs to make them more efficient and to give the state more clout in forcing changes in the private health care market.

Sebelius sought a reorganization of programs, and a law that went into effect July 1 created a new Kansas Health Policy Authority to manage programs and study policy issues. The governor and legislative leaders must appoint the authority’s nine voting members by Aug. 1.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Melvin Neufeld, initially at odds with Sebelius over the details of the reorganization, said he expected Day to get the job.

Day advised Sebelius on the reorganization and other health issues.

“I’m not shocked,” said Neufeld, R-Ingalls. “That was her health guy.”

Neufeld said appointments to the authority are even more important.

“If you get a bunch of political hacks, nothing’s going to happen,” Neufeld said. “Whether the health authority gets off the ground and runs and takes control and does things to change how we look at health care depends on who the appointees are.”

Spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said Sebelius, who has three appointments, plans to name people who have experience with health issues and “who are committed to improving access to health care and lowering costs.”

For Sebelius, a reorganization was part of a $50 million plan that included proposals to expand state insurance coverage for adults in need and to ensure children who are eligible for coverage receive it. Her proposals would have extended coverage to an additional 70,000 Kansans.

Sebelius also proposed higher tobacco taxes, raising the levy on a package of cigarettes by 50 cents, to $1.29. The idea never came up for a vote in the Legislature.

The programs under Day’s division will include the bulk of the state-federal Medicaid program, providing health coverage to Kansans in need, an insurance program for children of working-class families, the health insurance program for state workers, and the workers’ compensation program for state employees.

On July 1, 2006, those programs will be transferred to the authority from the Department of Administration.

Day is a former director of Medicaid programs for the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and a former administrator at state hospitals for the developmentally disabled in Topeka and Parsons.