Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Obama Health Czar


This is not a political blog. However, it's kind of interesting seeing the reports of the transition team come out of Chicago. One of the many things I'm proud of this country is this - In no other country in the world will you see a transition to a new government run so smooth. You see stories around the world that sometimes involve weapons when a new government comes to power.

Anyway, just wanted to comment on who's probably going to be the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. According to the CNN report above, it will be former Senator Tom Daschle, who is currently at a law firm in Washington, DC. (Undoubtedly this is a move consistent with the president-elect's passion to bring change to Washington hehe) The reporter in the story describes the HHS Secretary position as the nation's "Health Czar." Anything health policy related goes through HHS, including things like Medicare policy.

During this election cycle, it was pretty apparent where the Democratic party would like to take American health care. The seeds are carefully being planted. In the report above, they state that the former majority leader was frustrated that he could not get a universal health care bill passed. It also states that he sees a "historic" opportunity especially since the White House and the Congress is controlled by the Democrats. If their goals are met, I see more primary care physicians (like myself) being unhappy with the bureaucracy related to the US health care system.

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