Obama nominates Gov. Sebelius for health post
— -- President Obama, acknowledging that no one "has a silver bullet" to reform the nation's broken health-care system, on Monday nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to take on the daunting task.
Sebelius, 60, a Democrat, is Obama's second choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
She will tackle what Obama calls one of the defining problems of the times: skyrocketing health-care costs and inefficiencies that are driving families and businesses into bankruptcy and contributing to the nation's economic crisis.
"It's a crisis that's punishing families, battering businesses and squeezing states," Obama said. And solving the long-intractible problem is "no longer just a moral imperative but a fiscal imperative."
Obama chose Sebelius after his first choice, former senator Tom Daschle, withdrew his name amid revelations about unpaid taxes for consulting work and a car and driver he used after he lose re-election to the Senate in 2004.
Sebelius, who must be confirmed by the Senate, called the job "a responsibility I could not refuse."
Flanked at the White House's East Room podium by Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, both Republicans, Sebelius said heath care reform is not "a partisan challenge, it's an American challenge."
Nancy-Ann DeParle, a health policy figure during the administration of Bill Clinton, was introduced as Obama's choice to head the White House Office for Health Reform.
Health care veterans optimistic
Veterans of the health care wars of 1993-94 expressed optimism that Obama can succeed where Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton failed.
Among the reasons they cite are Obama's intention to let Congress help write the legislation; in 1993, the Clinton administration came up with their own complex proposal for "managed competition" that was depicted by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in an almost indecipherable flow chart.
They also said Obama is reaching out to Republicans and interest groups, including health insurers, drug makers, hospitals and doctors, in ways the Clinton administration did not. As part of that effort, the White House will host a health care summit Thursday, with more to come.
"I think he's trying to set a warm tone that hopefully will have an impact throughout the debate," said Ron Pollack, executive director of the health consumers group Families USA.
They urged Obama to go fast, but also slow: Fast in terms of getting legislation through Congress as soon as possible, before opponents can sway public opinion. Slow in terms of implementing whatever they manage to pass, because of the enormity of the task and the possibility of making mistakes.
"I think that they've learned from past mistakes," said Donna Shalala, president of Miami University in Florida, who was Clinton's secretary of health and human services. "They know where the trip wires are."
One difference this year, they said, is that the deep recession increases people's desire for change. Obama should capitalize on that quickly, they said, and not waste his political capital on other issues as Clinton did in 1993 with budget, trade and defense issues.
"I think that the environment is completely different," said Chip Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals. "Obviously we're into extraordinary times. In these kinds of times, changes can be made."
Contributing: Steve Marshall in McLean, Va., and the Associated Press