Gov. McMaster to bring back former Sanford Medicaid director to lead SC agency
Gov. Henry McMaster officially announced on Wednesday that he will nominate Robert Kerr to lead South Carolina’s Medicaid agency, which has been without a permanent director since December of last year.
If confirmed by the state Senate, Kerr would once again run the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.
Kerr, who lives in Richland County, ran the state agency under former Gov. Mark Sanford’s administration for about four years, then left in 2007 after 22 years with the agency to run a private health care consulting firm.
“There is not a more important time for the Department of Health and Human Services to be led by an expert on Medicaid,” McMaster said in a statement on Wednesday. “Robbie Kerr is respected by both Republicans and Democrats and has a sterling reputation for integrity, professionalism, candor and collaborative leadership. We are delighted that he has agreed to take on this position at this critical time in our state’s history.”
The state’s lead Medicaid agency has been without a permanent director since last winter, after the resignation of Joshua Baker, who headed the agency for three years. McMaster had named Richland County’s Thomas Clark Phillip to serve as acting director.
Should Kerr, 62, be confirmed, Phillip will stay with the agency as the department’s chief financial officer.
In a one-page resignation letter to McMaster last year, Baker wrote the new year was an appropriate time to step down. He cited the state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts, now in full force, as a time for a transition.
Aside Baker, two other top officials left the agency: Bryan Amick, chief strategy and innovation officer, and Erin Boyce, chief of staff.
As the potential lead of Health and Human Services, Kerr would once again be over a department handling the state’s Medicaid providers and benefits for adults, children, seniors and people who are considered low-income. He also would once again be back in an agency that has had to balance the politics of the state’s dispute over abortion clinics and Medicaid funds with existing policy and law.
An attempt to deny those funds to Planned Parenthood’s two clinics failed after the U.S. Supreme Court intervened.
State lawmakers said on Wednesday that Kerr was perfectly qualified to take on the role, again.
“Robbie Kerr was a great director of the agency when he was there before,” said state Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, chairman of the Senate’s Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee. “He’s dedicated to public service, and I’m grateful for his willingness to accept this challenge.”
Since 2007, Kerr has continued to run his consulting firm but is in the process of ceasing operations now.
A release from the Governor’s Offices said, upon Senate approval, Kerr will terminate all client contracts and will no longer have a business relationship with them.
Kerr thanked the governor in a statement, saying he looks forward to returning to the state agency he once led.
“If I am confirmed, I promise that the state of South Carolina will receive every ounce of effort I have to offer.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 2:35 PM.
