Last week on National Journal's Health Care Expert Blog, contributors weighed in on how both Tom Daschle's withdrawal and the economic stimulus package -- slated to be signed today by President Obama in Denver -- have affected plans to reform health care in 2009.
While rumors have been floating around about whom Obama will appoint as HHS secretary, the White House has acknowledged that "we are vetting," but would not elaborate further, according to the Washington Post. Some names that have surfaced include Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.
The outlook for health care reform in 2009 is not bright from the perspective of James P Gelfand, senior manager of health policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who noted Daschle's "unique" qualifications for the HHS post and argued that "his loss will definitely delay and cost the process." Ultimately, Gelfand said, lawmakers should not hastily push health care through this year.
Others, however, are not discouraged by either the delayed HHS appointment or the ailing economy. Ron Pollack, executive director for FamiliesUSA, said Daschle's withdrawal "will not significantly slow down the health care reform effort." He stressed that "reform rests with the President and the key committee chairs that have jurisdiction over health care" -- such as Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. These lawmakers have all expressed a commitment to achieving reform this year, Pollack said.
This assertion was confirmed by Sen. Baucus himself, who wrote on the blog that reform is "not only possible in 2009, it is imperative." Baucus, who chairs the Finance Committee, said that once the stimulus package was out of the way he would refocus the panel's attention onto health care.
Meanwhile, the new secretary of HHS, whoever it is, will be "confronted with two interrelated challenges," according to USC professor Leonard D. Schaeffer. He or she must 1) be knowledgeable about the politics of health care and 2) assess internally the management issues facing the department. For successful reform, Schaeffer writes, HHS "needs to change."
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