President-Elect Obama To Announce Health Care Goals, Officially Nominate Daschle for HHS Secretary

President-elect Barack Obama at a press conference on Thursday morning is expected to outline his health care priorities and formally announce former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as his nominee for HHS secretary, the Washington Times reports (LoBianco, Washington Times, 12/11).

According to the Washington Post's "44," "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" (Connolly, "44," Washington Post, 12/10). According to the AP/Albany Times Union, Daschle will "pull double duty" in the Obama administration as he also will oversee the new White House Office of Health Reform, making it clear that he will be coordinating the administration's health care reform efforts, Democratic officials say. Jeanne Lambrew, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who worked on health care policy in the Clinton administration, will serve as deputy director of the new White House office and will oversee planning efforts, the AP/Times Union reports (Freking, AP/Albany Times Union, 12/11).

Health reform is "one of the most significant, politically touchy issues" for the new administration, Boston Globe's "Political Intelligence" blog reports (Rhee, "Political Intelligence," Boston Globe, 12/10). "While there's one school of thought that [Obama] needs to focus almost entirely on reviving the economy and put off health care, others want him to act during his honeymoon -- and argue that progress on health care could also help economic growth," the Boston Globe's "Political Intelligence" reports (Rhee, "Political Intelligence," Boston Globe, 12/10).

Opinion Pieces

• Morton Kondracke, Roll Call: "The good news is that, now that Democrats have won total control of the government, all Americans are likely to have health insurance" and "action is likely to come on a bevy of health reforms that have been delayed despite broad bipartisan support," Roll Call Executive Editor Kondracke writes in a column. The "bad news," he writes, "is that the ranks of the uninsured, previously about 46 million, probably will swell by another five million to six million because of the recession," which "means the cost of covering everyone will surge far above previous estimates" of $150 billion annually. Kondracke adds that "more bad news lies in the likelihood that Democrats will adopt a government-heavy health reform solution that might eventually result in the disappearance of private health insurance." Kondracke concludes, "It's all going to cost a lot of money, but it will be worth it if no one lacks for insurance -- and if Democrats can correct the anomaly that the United States pays more per capita than any other country on health care, but ranks 48th in the world in life expectancy" (Kondracke, Roll Call, 12/11).
  
  
• Lloyd Dean/Bruce Bodaken, San Francisco Chronicle: Dean, president and CEO of Catholic Healthcare West, and Bodaken, chair and CEO of Blue Shield of California, write in a Chronicle opinion piece that they have joined New America Foundation's Health CEOs for Health Reform, adding, "Health care leaders must commit to supporting comprehensive reform even if it runs counter to their business models." The coalition is comprised of CEOs "who recognize that business as usual is not sustainable, and who are willing to take risks to achieve universal coverage with lower long-term costs," the authors write. They conclude that the "new momentum for health care reform can succeed, but it will require the key players in the health care system to take risks and make compromises to be part of the solution," adding, "Members of Health CEOs for Health Reform have made this commitment -- and we invite others to join us" (Dean/Bodaken, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/11).
  
  
• Peter Pitts, Washington Times: "[O]ne of the lesser-known facets" of the plan unveiled last month by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is "the establishment of a national 'comparative effectiveness' center," which will "significantly affect the average patient's medical treatment," Pitts, president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former associate FDA commissioner, writes in a Times opinion piece. "Comparative effectiveness trials test new medical treatments against older alternatives" and, "under the Baucus plan, the results of these trials could end up informing the coverage schemes of public insurance programs," Pitts writes. According to Pitts, "A government-run comparative effectiveness center is, by design, primarily concerned with prices," and "would likely restrict patient access to cutting-edge pharmaceuticals, hamstring physician practices, and profoundly compromise the well-being of countless sick Americans." Pitts concludes, "A national comparative effectiveness agency would" strain the U.S. health care system "by clamping down on essential physician freedoms and undermining quality medical care" (Pitts, Washington Times, 12/11).