A former Clinton administration official is being tapped to head the White House's office of health reform.

Nancy-Ann DeParle will take the job of working on President Barack Obama's health care reform agenda, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the appointment has not yet been officially announced.

DeParle will work with Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who was being nominated later Monday as secretary of health and human services.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, Obama's first pick as HHS secretary, had been expected to assume both roles before he withdrew from consideration over tax issues.

DeParle served in the Clinton administration as head of the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid, and also worked in Clinton's budget office.

Source

President Barack Obama said Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, his nominee as health secretary, will try to forge a bipartisan consensus on revamping the U.S. health- care system, one of the nation’s “great challenges.”

The president also said that Nancy-Ann DeParle, the former chief of Medicare and Medicaid during the Clinton administration, will lead a new Office of Health Reform in the White House and work with Sebelius in shepherding the administration’s health- care initiatives through Congress.

“Health-care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve -- it’s a necessity we have to achieve,” Obama said at the White House, where he introduced Sebelius and DeParle.

The nomination of Sebelius, 60, comes as Obama puts health care on a parallel track with the economy as a top priority for his administration. The move also signals Obama’s attempt to build a bipartisan consensus in Congress. Sebelius, a Democrat, is in her second term as chief executive working with a Republican-dominated legislature in Kansas.

Obama last week proposed raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and reducing government payments to drug companies and insurers to fund a $634 billion “down payment” toward overhauling the U.S. health-care system and expanding coverage.

‘Fiscal Imperative’

Even with the nation facing a deepening recession, Obama said in his address to Congress last week and again today that revamping health care can’t wait.

“We must realize that fixing what’s wrong with our health care system is no longer just a moral imperative but a fiscal imperative,” he said in his announcement.

Congressional Republicans already have signaled opposition to the tax increases and Obama has said he expects a fight over his budget plans.

Obama said that the health-care overhaul will require a bipartisan consensus that Sebelius, given her experience as a Democratic chief executive in a largely Republican state, has a chance to forge.

“I don’t think anybody has a silver bullet when it comes to health care,” Obama said. “But what I do know is this that people of good will collectively recognize that the path that we’re on is unsustainable.”

Fundamental Question

One of the biggest issues facing Obama is whether the government should directly provide health benefits by establishing a public health plan to compete with private insurers, said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health LLC, a health consulting firm in Washington.

The health-care industry likely will argue that “you can’t have a level playing field” if it has to compete against the government for insurance business, Mendelson said. “That’s going to be a very important decision” to be made by the administration as it goes forward.

The administration also announced it is releasing $155 million from the economic stimulus package to fund 126 new health centers intended to help many of the 46 million Americans without health insurance. The money will come in the form of grants from the Department of Health and Human Services.

If approved by the Senate, Sebelius would take over a department whose jurisdiction includes Medicare health plans for the elderly and disabled and Medicaid health programs for the poor. The two programs account for $743 billion in spending, or about 21 percent of the federal budget.

Link to Economy

“This isn’t a partisan challenge, it’s an American challenge and one we can’t afford to ignore.” Sebelius said. “We can’t fix the economy without fixing health care.”

The nomination ended almost a month of uncertainty over who would assist Obama in developing and promoting his health plan. His previous nominee, former Senator Thomas A. Daschle, withdrew after questions were raised about his payment of back taxes.

Daschle was slated to take dual roles as health and human services secretary and head of the health reform office.

Obama plans an administration health-care summit on March 5, where doctors, hospital representatives, health-care advocates, business, labor and academicians will debate the course and pace of a revamped health-care system.

During his presidential election campaign, Obama promised to restructure insurance markets to provide more people coverage. He said at the time that he wants to give people more affordable options and bar insurers from denying people coverage because of their medical conditions.

Other Agencies

Sebelius would also oversee the Food and Drug Administration, which approves drugs and polices the U.S. food supply that’s under fire for tainted peanuts entering the food chain, and the National Institutes of Health, which holds responsibility for medical research. Obama hasn’t named people to head those agencies.

DeParle, 52, currently is a managing director of CCMP Capital Advisors LLC, a New York-based private equity firm with interests in health care. She sits on the boards of Medco Health Solutions Inc., a pharmacy benefit manager based in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; heart-device maker Boston Scientific Corp., of Natick, Massachusetts, and health information technology company Cerner Corp., of Kansas City, Missouri.

DeParle also is a director of CareMore Holdings LLC, Novel Environment Power, and Legacy Hospital Partners, all private companies owned or managed by CCMP Capital Advisors, according to corporate filings.

White House Confidence

Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said the administration doesn’t believe her board memberships will present a conflict of interest. “The White House has confidence in her and her abilities,” he said.

During President Bill Clinton’s administration, she led the two largest government health programs, Medicare and Medicaid. Before that she worked for Clinton as associate director for health and personnel of the Office of Management and Budget.

Until last year DeParle was a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a panel appointed by Congress to provide independent opinions on payment and policy issues. She sits on the board of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is an adjunct professor of health care systems at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

President Barack Obama nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Monday to be secretary of Health and Human Services, and he announced the release of $155 million in stimulus grants to support community health centers.

Nancy-Ann Deparle, former commissioner of Tennessee’s Department of Human Services, will direct the White House Office for Health Reform.

Both women will be key players in the push for comprehensive health care reform, Obama said.

“If we are going to help families, save businesses and improve the long-term economic health of our nation, we must realize that fixing what’s wrong with our health care system is no longer just a moral imperative, but a fiscal imperative,” Obama said at a White House event announcing the appointments. “Health care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve — it’s a necessity we have to achieve.”

Obama praised Sebelius’ record of “bipartisan problem-solving” in Kansas, where she served eight years as state insurance commissioner before being elected governor.

“She will be a tremendous asset to my Cabinet,” Obama said.

“I share your passion and personal commitment to health care reform,” Sebelius told Obama.

Obama also announced the federal government has released $155 million in economic stimulus grants to support 126 new community health centers around the nation.

“The construction and expansion of health centers will create thousands of new jobs, help provide health care to an estimated 750,000 Americans across the country who wouldn’t have access to care without these centers, and take another step toward an affordable, accessible health care system,” Obama said.

Sebelius is the president’s second choice for HHS secretary. His first choice, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, withdrew his nomination a month ago amid controversy over his failure to pay income taxes on a car and driver provided him by one of his private-sector clients after he left the Senate.

The selection of Sebelius got good reviews from organizations that will be involved in the health care reform debate.

Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, said Sebelius “blends a highly regarded expertise in insurance regulation with a well-grounded pragmatism that will serve our nation well.”

“She is a proven leader with extensive knowledge of health care issues and a long history of working effectively across the political aisle,” said Karen Ignani, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans.

Dr. Nancy Nielsen, president of the American Medical Association, noted that Sebelius expanded access to health care for children in Kansas. As insurance commissioner, “she helped preserve competition and choice in the health care marketplace by halting a problematic health insurance merger,” Nielsen said.