Obama seeking public input on health reform

In his first major speech after being tapped to become President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, former Sen. Tom Daschle announced a campaign to solicit public input on health reform (Source: “Citizens' advice sought on health-care overhaul,” Los Angeles Times/Seattle Times, Dec, 7, 2008).

The campaign involves asking individuals to host community meetings on health care between now and Dec. 31. The transition team also is soliciting online input at the Obama team’s transition Web site. Daschle said creating an “open process” for creating health policy is important because one criticism of the failed Clinton health initative in the 1990s was that it was widely perceived as being created behind closed doors.

Daschle’s duel roles in the administration, both as HHS Secreatary and head of the newly created White House health reform office, give him extraordinary potential power to both oversee the creation of health reform legislation and its eventual implementation (Source: “Daschle to be true health czar,” Politico.com, Dec. 13, 2008).

“This truly does represent a czar role. That phrase gets thrown around a lot in Washington and sometimes it doesn’t reflect the reality. But this time it does,” said Phil Blando of the health care consulting group AB+M Partners. “He’s the go-to guy across the board. People will try to end run around him and they’re going to have no where to go.”