Kansas’ Insurance Commissioner diagnosed with breast cancer

Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt has been diagnosed with breast cancer and plans to undergo treatment in the coming weeks.

Schmidt disclosed the diagnosis in a statement Wednesday. She said she will continue to work as the state’s top insurance regulator while undergoing treatment at the University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

Her statement was not more specific about her treatment. “I expect to make a full recovery,” Schmidt said, adding that operations at her department “will not be interrupted.” Schmidt, who is 67, said a doctor found “an area of concern” during a routine mammogram and ordered a biopsy. She informed her staff of her diagnosis on Wednesday morning.

A Republican, Schmidt was first elected commissioner in 2018 and reelected last year with 63% of the vote, the largest percentage of any candidate running statewide. She is a pharmacist who represented a Topeka-area district in the Kansas Senate for 14 years before her election as insurance commissioner.