Actress Annette Bening, left, and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius talk at the 2008 Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Award reception Wednesday in Denver. Sebelius said Wednesday rising health expenses are causing businesses to be more supportive of changes to the nation's health care system.

Actress Annette Bening, left, and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius talk at the 2008 Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Award reception Wednesday in Denver. Sebelius said Wednesday rising health expenses are causing businesses to be more supportive of changes to the nation's health care system.

Denver ? Barack Obama has promised sweeping changes in the nation’s health care system if he becomes president.

On Wednesday, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a staunch supporter of Obama, says he will be able to deliver on that promise.

And, she said, help in breaking the logjam on health care will come from an unlikely source – the business community.

“The business community is now onboard,” Sebelius said.

She said many businesses are finding it difficult to compete with their counterparts in other countries because of the rising cost of health care.

Obama has proposed expanding Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). He also would create a government-sponsored plan for folks who decide to leave the private market.

Amy Blankenbiller, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, said the business community hasn’t signed on to either Obama’s or Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain’s health plans. McCain has said his health care plan would provide a refundable tax credit to families to buy health insurance.

But Blankenbiller said the business community needs to be involved in any proposed changes to the system.

She said health care costs are usually the top or the second-most pressing concern among business owners in Kansas.

“The business community wants to be engaged, and we have to because we are part of the provider system,” she said.

In Kansas, the uninsured situation is getting worse.

Kansas was one of only 10 states that saw an increase in the percentage of people without health insurance, according to new Census figures. About 12.5 percent of Kansans, or 340,000 people, lacked health insurance in 2006-07, up from 11.3 percent, or 282,000 people in 2004-2005.

In the last legislative session, health policy experts proposed a slew of reforms, but most of the major ones were rejected by lawmakers, including a 50-cent increase in the cigarette tax that would have been used to help provide health coverage to the poor.

On Tuesday night, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who was defeated by Obama for the Democratic Party’s nomination, got a big cheer during her speech at the Democratic National Convention when she said she looked forward to the day that Obama signed legislation guaranteeing health care for all Americans.

But Obama’s plan doesn’t go as far as a single-payer, public-funded plan that would cover everyone.

Still, Sebelius said, if Obama wins the White House and Democrats make more gains in Congress, health care reform will be more likely.

“We can move the ball forward if we have a president who is committed to it,” she said.