Fyi. Obama's choice of who should lead the transition team could have
been much better:
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OBAMA: Frames Health Care Proposal as Jobs Plan
President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have begun to
frame their proposals for health care and other issues as "job-creation
measures" in response to the current economic downturn, the Washington
Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/15/AR20081
11502438.html> reports. According to the Post, the "thinking is that
universal coverage will lower health care costs and make companies more
willing to hire, as well as create new health care jobs." House Labor
and Education Committee Chair <http://edlabor.house.gov/> George Miller
(D-Calif.) said, "People are starting to see that the loss of jobs is
starting to cascade," adding, "Health care becomes about jobs as much as
it is about the economy" (MacGillis, Washington Post, 11/16). Meanwhile,
Obama and Democrats are "wrestling with how aggressively to use their
governing majority to move toward cherished goals such as universal
health care," the Chicago Tribune
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-tactics-bdnov1
6,0,4707534.story> reports (Dorning, Chicago Tribune, 11/16). According
to the Arizona Republic
<http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/11/16/20081116biz-healt
h1116.html> , "Obama's to-do list of domestic fixes will be long and
pricey," but "perhaps no reform will be as controversial as his vow to
overhaul the nation's health care system" (Alltucker, Arizona Republic,
11/16). "One view is that Democrats should seize the opportunity to
rapidly press the party's agenda on health care, middle-class tax cuts
and major spending programs," according to the Tribune. Bill Galston, a
domestic policy adviser to former President Clinton, said, "There's a
lot of pent-up demand, a lot of impatience," with "a number of Democrats
in Congress who will say, 'If we can't pass universal health care this
time, when can we?'" However, the "risk of backlash is real," and the
"party's rank and file says it prefers a centrist course," the Tribune
reports. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said, "We need to
have a measured approach. I don't think we need to be lurching left or
right" (Chicago Tribune, 11/16).
HHS Transition
The Obama transition team on Friday named William Corr, executive
director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
<http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/index.php> , and Nicole Lurie, a public
health and health care disparities expert with RAND
<http://www.rand.org/> , as "agency review team" leaders to manage
transition activities for HHS <http://www.hhs.gov/> , CQ HealthBeat
<http://corporate.cq.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=95> reports. In addition,
the team named Jonathan Moreno, a professor of medical ethics at the
University of Pennsylvania <http://www.upenn.edu/> , to manage
transition activities related to bioethics issues (Reichard, CQ
HealthBeat, 11/14). In related news, outgoing HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt
in a report released on Friday said that the Obama administration should
seek to promote personalized medicine and expand use of electronic
health records to address problems with the health care system,
Bloomberg
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aHJaVXZ52Fjs>
reports. The report, which Leavitt called a "note on the desk" to his
successor, also cited the need to eliminate waste and overuse of
treatments and medical tests to reduce health care costs and promote
access (Lauerman, Bloomberg, 11/14). Meanwhile, according to unnamed
sources, Democratic National Committee
<http://www.democrats.org/page/content/victorytshirt/> Chair Howard
Dean, a physician and former governor of Vermont, is not under serious
consideration for HHS secretary, The Politico
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15608.html> reports.
According to The Politico, the "chief attributes ... Obama is seeking in
his HHS secretary will be an ability to work with members of Congress
and shepherd reform legislation through the House and Senate," a job
description that is "particularly ill-suited" for Dean because of his
partisan background and lack of congressional experience, sources said
(Cummings, The Politico, 11/13).
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