Sen. Wyden Says He Would Not Oppose Consideration As Nominee For HHS Secretary; Rep. DeLauro Possible Nominee, Some Say

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Regulatory Affairs / Drug Approvals;  Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 09 Feb 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Thursday in an interview said that he would not oppose consideration as the nominee for HHS secretary after former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) withdrew his nomination this week, The Hill reports. Wyden, a member of the Senate Finance Committee who will have a lead role in health care reform efforts this year, said, "I've got a terrific job representing Oregon in the United States Senate, first of all," adding, "Second, I know the president is very much committed to fixing the health care system, and I'm going to work" with committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) "to get that done." However, he added, "I'm also a big believer in letting the president consider who he'd like to consider" for HHS secretary (Rushing, The Hill, 2/5).

Meanwhile, according to the Hartford Courant, some observers have speculated that Obama might nominate House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) as HHS secretary. DeLauro, who has led legislative efforts on food safety and health care, said that the White House has not contacted her about a possible nomination as HHS secretary and that she has not provided any information for review. In addition, she said that she remains committed to her legislative efforts, such as legislation that would restructure FDA (Hamilton, Hartford Courant, 2/6).

MSNBC's "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" on Wednesday included a discussion with Craig Crawford of CQ Politics.com on the possible consideration of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) as the nominee for HHS secretary (Shuster, "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," MSNBC, 2/5).

Editorial, Opinion Piece

• Economist: Daschle was "so uniquely gifted that his departure from the twin posts" of HHS secretary and director of the White House Office of Health Reform will "set back Mr. Obama's health reform efforts," at least in the short term, an Economist editorial states. According to the editorial, "Daschle's unusual strengths as both an elder statesman of the Senate and a serious policy wonk meant that he, more than anyone, might have been able to get the job done." The editorial states that "there is still a strong case for acting sooner rather than later" on health care reform, adding that, with or "without the help of Mr. Daschle, Mr. Obama would be sensible to strike while the iron is still hot" (Economist, 2/7).
  
  
• Frank Micciche, Christian Science Monitor: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) would be an "extraordinary, controversial and risky," selection of for Obama's "health care reform czar," but "then again, so would anything resembling meaningful health care reform," Micciche, managing director of the Next Social Contract Initiative at the New America Foundation, writes in a Monitor opinion piece. According to Micciche, the selection of Romney "would require sacrifice on both sides of the political aisle -- far beyond any of the halting, symbolic bows at bipartisanship exchanged thus far in the Obama era" -- and "it may be the last, best opportunity to salvage the effort in the wake of Daschle's fall." Micciche writes, "In his favor, Romney brings unimpeachable credentials as a health care reformer, including the ability to bring together unconventional allies and utilize every bit of leverage available to get a deal done," as he "almost singlehandedly drove" the implementation of the Massachusetts health insurance law and "leveraged the potential loss of $385 million in federal Medicaid funding to force the extremely powerful Massachusetts hospital lobby to the table and secure their support for a market-based reform that relied on (mandatory) private health insurance as the primary source of coverage for those receiving subsidies under the plan." He adds, "Of course, the former governor also brings several liabilities to the table, many resulting from his 2008 campaign." However, "in the face of crises and opportunities on a scale not seen in generations, these strangest of bedfellows may yet be the answer to real health care reform," Micciche writes (Micciche, Christian Science Monitor, 2/6).

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.

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