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.