“Partisan inclusion is key to successful implementation of reform law. Repeal is not possible politically and is not the option.” — Former senator (D-SD) and one-time Obama nominee for HHS Secretary.

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There is a role for former Sen. Tom Daschle in Obama’s worldview after all, and by the looks of things, it’s very corporate-friendly. Since withdrawing his name from a previously all but certain ascension to HHS secretary because of tax lapses, he’s been a busy guy. Between founding a healthcare policy think tank and holding private meetings with members of Congress on issues of healthcare reform, he’s also found time to become a member of General Electric’s new initiative to reduce medical costs. According to Senate lobbying disclosures, he also works for a law firm which lobbies on behalf of more than a dozen healthcare organizations. | LINK

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Recall the Paul Krugman piece cited by this blog a few days back? Krugman was making the pleas for action on healthcare — now. Then came the Tom Daschle derailment, and the hopes for any swift legislation to improve even a modicum of healthcare delivery went out with the bathwater. Truth be told, President Obama’s loud silence on the matter was a more telling admission of inactivity more than Daschle’s inevitable “distraction” could ever be. 

[T]he Democratic-led Congress is taking longer than expected to approve Obama’s economic stimulus plan, which has topped $900 billion in the Senate, and Obama has to cope with a budget deficit some estimate could top $1 trillion this year.

Creating a comprehensive plan to control soaring healthcare costs and cover 46 million uninsured Americans has eluded previous administrations and is an ambitious goal for lawmakers with so much on their plates.

Obama’s quest for bipartisan handwringing over the mechanics of the expected economic stimulus bill passage has apparently trumped his desire for any initial meaningful steps toward actual healthcare reform. Perhaps he’s got his ace up his vetting sleeve with respect to the ultimate chosen HHS Secretary; maybe — just maybe – when he takes to the national airwaves on Monday, healthcare policy watchers will be in for some pleasant surprises. | LINK

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From the Huffington Post:

At this point, if Howard Dean is not selected for at least one of these positions, it is a clear snub. But not just to Dean, but to all like-minded progressives. There’s no way that Rahm Emanuel’s animosity toward Dean can be explained away if they pass over him again, especially given his tremendous success at the DNC. That success is not a claim he holds over the Democratic Party, it is a testament to his ability to get things done.

Actually, it is quite surprising the former DNC chair and Presidential candidate was passed over the first time for the HHS Sec’y position. Imminently more qualified than the politician-cum-lobbyist Tom Daschle, Howard Dean’s executive experience (Vermont Governor), leadership experience (aforementioned DNC position), fundraising and galvanizing history (run for president with NH Primary win in 2004), and — oh yeah — practical experience (primary care physician) — all make him the ideal candidate for HHS Secretary. He’s got the vote of DoctorPundit.com. | LINK

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Funny how things just change on a dime. Doctor Pundit, as well as many other blogs and progressive media outlets, had more or less praised President Obama’s choice nominee for HHS Sec’y, former Sen. Tom Daschle. Until recently, that is. What started out as media tricklings last Friday about Daschle’s failure to pay income tax on some unreported income within the past three years turned out to be much more — an indictment against the principles the new president has fought so hard to shed from his image of Change. Obama promised change in the way the healthcare crisis was going to be handled: a change that would enhance access to healthcare affordability; a change that would guarantee a broader cloak of coverage in spite of the muscle of third party interests in promoting the healthcare marketplace status quo; a change that would blend the organizational structures of the federal government and the private sector in the creation of healthcare delivery checks and balances; and finally change that would result in a healthcare steward free of lobbying interests — those same interests that created the affordability and accessibility crisis we find ourselves in today. That steward who represented Change in healthcare was suppposed to be the honorable Tom Daschle. The only thing honorable about Daschle today is his decision to drop out of the confirmation process for HHS Sec’y altogether. | LINK

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As the Obama cabinet begins to take shape, groups on either side of the regulatory aisle are firing off letters to HHS Sec’y-Elect Tom Daschle in an effort to influence opinion in the choice of the next FDA commissioner. Essentially, that choice comes down to a couple of possibilities: (1) a candidate who represents the interests of the drug and device lobby as an efficient healthcare-as-free-market savior, eschewing excessive government regulation as both wasteful and intrusive; or (2) a candidate who can balance the need for safety in healthcare product delivery and promotion with the government funding specifically earmarked for this purpose. The selection of the new FDA chief will a closely watched one because an essential part of healthcare delivery reform will involve strong checks and balances in the powers of agencies, like the FDA, charged with protecting the public’s interest, as opposed to their own “saving face”. | LINK

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Former Sen. (D-SD) Tom Daschle

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No sooner has Tom Daschle taken the job of HHS secretary than we hear that Barack Obama plans to pump major bucks into the federal healthcare economy.

In a stimulus bill that could exceed $500 billion, Obama has already pledged to increase federal Medicaid spending — perhaps by more than $40 billion over two years — and to make a large investment in health information technology.

Talks are underway about also adding money to retrain medical workers, extending the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and expanding the law that allows unemployed people to purchase health insurance through a previous employer’s plan, known as COBRA.

At a Chicago news conference yesterday to introduce Thomas A. Daschle as his choice for health and human services secretary, Obama said major reform of the health-care system “has to be intimately woven into our overall economic recovery plan.”

LINK

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Well, it’s about to become official.  Former US Senator Tom Daschle will formally get the nod for HHS Sec’y post.

The former senate majority leader was an early and loyal supporter of Obama, going so far as to hand off much of his political apparatus to Obama when the Illinois newcomer first entered the Senate. In accepting the HHS job offer, Daschle negotiated an unusually broad portfolio for himself: in addition to running the behemoth department, he will be the administration’s point person on health care reform efforts.

Daschle represents an exciting appointment to this very influential position and brings Obama-like tech savvy, sure to update the government agency’s actions for the 21st century.

This looks like a pretty shrewd pick, and the fact that it is the first cabinet job to be sort-of-announced is an indication that Barack Obama is in deadly earnest about one of his main campaign promises: comprehensive health-care reform. It would be hard to find anyone better placed than Mr Daschle to get the job done, if anyone can. As a former Senate minority and majority leader, Mr Daschle knows the byways of Congress as well as anyone.

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Call President-elect Obama what you want, but don’t call him a slacker — or more precisely, a techie slacker.  The man who set individual fundraising records left and right throughout his campaign while making the most of the efficiency that the Web has to offer is now embracing Web 2.0 technology to gauge public opinion on matters of healthcare policy.

[G]roundwork for debating and shaping policy is mobilizing via postings on websites, internet correspondence, video clips, blogs, email alerts and calls for “health care house parties” to brainstorm new ideas.

Obama’s right hand on health care, former senator majority leader Thomas A. Daschle, seen by many to be number one choice to head up the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) when the new administration takes over from George W. Bush on 20th January, conducted a conference call with 1,000 supporters on Wednesday.

Former SD senator Tom Daschle seems just as a good choice to extend 21st century thinking into a healthcare economy that needs major policy overhauls.  He’s up to the challenge. | LINK

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