Daschle May Lead to Lambrew

By Mike Kurland, CIS Senior Compliance Specialist
mikekurland@cis-partners.com

By now, I am sure you are aware that President-elect Barack Obama has selected Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle as his choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS has over 65,000 employees and a budget of $707.7 billion, accounting for nearly one-quarter of all federal spending, second only to the Defense Department.[1] Mr. Daschle will be expected to do more than simply manage the department, however. President-elect Obama also expects him to push health care reform through Congress, and manage its progress. It is speculated that Mr. Daschle will turn to Jeanne Lambrew, the co-author of Daschle’s book “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crises,” for advice. She may soon be involved in important health care policy decisions, so what do we know about Jeanne Lambrew?

Jeanne Lambrew is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, a think tank founded by former Clinton White House Chief of Staff John Podesta. She is also an Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. Lambrew has conducted vast research and has spoken before congress on the uninsured, and on government programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and long-term care.

Previously, Lambrew was an Associate Professor with the Department of Health Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and she worked on health care policy for the Clinton administration from 1997 to 2001.

In the past, Lambrew has called for “Extending and simplifying Medicaid nationwide (e.g., to 100 to 150 percent of poverty)” and for a plan that would expect people to enroll in an insurance option (private or federal) or pay an income-related assessment to support the care that they will inevitably use; Medicaid would be the default payer for such people[2].

Lambrew has been a strong supporter of public programs, and has testified before congress that they are important public safety nets. Lambrew cautioned that any changes to these programs should be made carefully, to avoid the loss or reduction of health care coverage for those requiring these programs the most.


[1] Washington Post (2008, December 5). Citing electronic sources retrieved October 5, 2008 from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/04/AR2008120403716.html?hpid=topnews

[2] Meeting the Challenge of Covering all Americans by 2010 (2005, July 10). Citing electronic sources retrieved December 5, 2008 from:
www.results.org/website/navdispatch.asp?id=1681