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Obama to name Tom Daschle as health secretary
President-elect Barack Obama is expected to put a former leader of the Senate in charge of coordinating efforts to overhaul the US health care system.
- AP
- Published: 10:57 December 11, 2008
Washington: President-elect Barack Obama is expected to put a former leader of the Senate in charge of coordinating efforts to overhaul the US health care system.
The appointment of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle as the Health and Human Services secretary and as chief of a new White House Office of Health Reform will be announced on Thursday in Chicago, said a Democratic official familiar with the plan.
"He will be the White House's voice on this critical issue" of health care, said the official, who was not authorizsd to speak publicly about the development.
The United States is one of the few western countries without universal health care.
Jeanne Lambrew, who helped Daschle write a book about health care reform, will serve as deputy director of the new White House office. She also worked on health policy at
the White House during the Clinton administration and currently serves as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.
Leaders of health advocacy groups have described Lambrew as one of Daschle's most trusted advisers on health issues. She will oversee planning efforts.
After losing re-election to the Senate in 2004, Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, became a public policy adviser and member of the legislative and public policy group at
the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. He advised clients on issues including health care, financial services and taxes and trade, according to the firm's website.
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