Tom Daschle to Run HHS, Lead Health Care Reform

The elite cabinet posts (State, Defense, Justice, Treasury) usually get all the press, and with good reason. These are the elite posts because they have authority over the most powerful departments, where big policy decisions are made and implemented.

This administration may be different. With reports that Tom Daschle has been offered and accepted the job of Secretary of Health and Human Services, we are getting the strongest signs yet that health care reform, real health care reform, is coming. Leading that reform is likely to be as high-profile and meaningful a portfolio as any over the next few years, and the President-elect has sent a strong signal with his choice. As Ezra Klein says:

You don't tap the former Senate Majority Leader to run your health care bureaucracy. That's not his skill set. You tap him to get your health care plan through Congress. You tap him because he understands the parliamentary tricks and has a deep knowledge of the ideologies and incentives of the relevant players. You tap him because you understand that health care reform runs through the Senate. And he accepts because he has been assured that you mean to attempt health care reform.

Daschle will serve not just as a department head, but reportedly will "also oversee Mr. Obama's health policy working group to develop a health care plan." As Jonathan Cohn points out, Daschle has not only the legislative knowledge and connections to get a plan passed, he knows a thing or two about what the plan should look like:

Although he was always been interested in health care, in the last few years he's become a true wonk on the subject, publishing a book called Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis. It urges precisely the sorts of reforms President-Elect Obama and his congressional allies are promoting right now.

Not more than an hour ago, I sent Ezra an email asking for some suggested reading on health care reform. Seems like Daschle's book would be a decent place to start.