As expected, President Obama has announced the appointment of
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be director of Health and Human
Services and, in splitting up the duties originally intended for
Tom Daschle, Nancy-Ann DeParle was appointed to be director of
the newly-created White House Office for Health Reform. Taken
together, neither one of them has the legislative experience and
clout on Capitol Hill as Daschle did, so it still raises the
question of who will shepherd any health care reform effort
through Congress.
Interestingly, De-Parle has served as a director on a number
of corporate boards within the health care industry including
Boston Scientific, Cerner, Medeco, DaVita, and Triad Hospitals,
which could create potential conflicts of interest. The White
House post, however, is not subject to Senate confirmation.
