Associated Press Examines Incoming Obama Administration Health Care Overhaul

Associated Press Examines Incoming Obama Administration Health Care Overhaul Strategy
19 Dec 2008

The incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama plans on "applying some of the lessons learned" from President Clinton's health care reform efforts in the 1990s, which "means ... moving fast, seizing momentum and not letting it go," AP/Kansas City Star reports.

According to the AP/Star, the health care overhaul strategy includes giving people opportunities to air their thoughts, which are being heard by Obama transition team members at community meetings across the country. In addition, HHS Secretary-designate and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) believes being "on the offensive" and taking immediate action, as well as not addressing every detail in legislation, are important in moving health care reform forward, the AP/Star reports.

Daschle in a recent speech in Colorado said, "Details kill," adding, "If we get too far into the weeds, if we produce a 1,500- or 1,600-page bill, we're going to get hung up on all the details and we're never going to get to the principles" (Freking, AP/Kansas City Star, 12/17).

Coalition Seeks FDA Commissioner With Ties to Rx Industry
Several dozen patient and research organizations have sent a letter to Daschle that asks him to select an individual with ties to the pharmaceutical industry as the nominee for the next FDA commissioner, the Wall Street Journal reports. The FDA Commissioner Coalition, which includes 34 patient and research organizations funded in large part by pharmaceutical companies, did not name any specific individual in the letter. However, the letter states that Daschle should select the nominee for FDA commissioner without "pressure from elected and appointed officials and from the news media," adding that he should consider ties with the pharmaceutical industry a "positive qualification" for any potential nominee.

According to the Journal, the letter "follows signs that two outspoken critics of drugmakers and the FDA" -- Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, and Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein -- "are candidates for the top FDA job" (Mundy, Wall Street Journal, 12/18).

Opinion Pieces

* Stuart Butler, Washington Times: A "general agreement" exists on the "major goals" of health care reform, but questions remain about the details, Butler, vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, writes in a Times opinion piece. According to Butler, although most U.S. residents "think all lawful residents should have affordable access to at least basic health services and insurance protection for heavy medical expenses," the "devil is in the details." Butler writes that health care reform should involve four steps. First, "make sure every working family has access to an affordable, basic private plan, regardless of their health status and no matter where they live or work," an effort that requires states to "work with the insurers within state lines to develop one or more affordable 'default' private plans, with agreed-upon minimum benefits and premium rules," Butler writes. Second, encourage states to "organize a 'farmer's market' or 'health exchange' to enable families to gain information about plans before choosing one," he writes. Third, "reform the tax treatment of health insurance," and fourth, redesign Medicaid and SCHIP "to make them more affordable and enable them to fit into the revamped private system," Butler writes (Butler, Washington Times, 12/18).

* Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal: Obama has received "glowing reviews," but "organizing and operating the White House" to address health care and other issues "will be a much bigger challenge than he can possibly yet understand," Rove, former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President Bush, writes in a Journal opinion piece. According to Rove, Daschle "has never run anything but will have responsibility for one of the government's most complicated departments," as well as a new White House Office of Health Reform. Rove writes, "The creation of this new Daschle-led office clearly downgrades" the Domestic Policy Council and the National Economic Council, both of which "have traditionally split White House action on health issues." Rove adds, "The question for Mr. Obama is: Who will give him unvarnished, independent counsel on the recommendations of his HHS secretary?" (Rove, Wall Street Journal, 12/18).

Letter to the Editor
A Dec. 9 Journal editorial "describes some of the many challenges that lie ahead" for Obama as he seeks to address health care reform, but the discussion about reform should "include the entire health system," CDC Director Julie Gerberding writes in a Journal letter to the editor.

According to Gerberding, treatment of preventable conditions accounts for 75% of current U.S. health care expenditures. She writes, "We have to promote changes and policies that build health opportunities into everyday life: walkable streets, nutritious school lunches, health education and fitness programs for all students, smoking-cessation programs and easy access to parks and gyms."

She adds that CDC "is in full support of a rapidly expanding movement to help America become the 'healthiest nation'" (Gerberding, Wall Street Journal, 12/18).

Broadcast Coverage
NPR's "Fresh Air from WHYY" on Wednesday examined bioethics and other health care challenges that face the Obama administration ("Fresh Air from WHYY," NPR, 12/17).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/133675.php