Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle pledged Thursday that he would apply the lessons of the past to work toward healthcare reform.
"When healthcare reform collapsed in 1994, I remember all the criticisms people had after the fact," he told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at his conformation hearing. "They said it took too long, they said the process was too opaque, they said the plan was too hard to understand, and they said the changes felt too dramatic."
"These are good arguments for undertaking reform in a way that is aggressive, open and responsive to Americans' concerns," Daschle added. "They are not good arguments for ignoring the problem."
Though Daschle didn't specify it in his opening statement, healthcare information technology is a cornerstone of President-elect Barack Obama's plan for healthcare reform. Obama has called for spending $50 billion of government money to support healthcare IT over five years.
While Daschle was on Capitol Hill with his former Senate colleagues, Obama was in Fairfax, Va., where he delivered a speech on the economic stimulus package in which he again called for electronic health records.
Daschle, the former Senate Majority Leader from South Dakota, seemed to face a friendly audience Thursday. During the hearing he promised to work with several colleagues who asked for his help on specific aspects of healthcare.
In closing, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the committee's chairman, spotlighted how eager the committee members were to work with Daschle on a number of healthcare issues.
"There is recognition of the contribution you have already made in this area," he said.
Daschle noted that in 1994, the country had 37 million uninsured. Today, there are nearly 46 million, he said. In 1987, one dollar out of 15 went toward healthcare for the average family, he said, while today it's one out of six.
"And even though the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other country, we rank low on life expectancy and infant mortality," Daschle said.
While there are plenty of proponents to be found for boosting the use of healthcare IT as a critical piece of the reform package, sharp criticism has focused on a piece of the plan that calls for public health insurance that would compete with private insurers.
Daschle's nomination has won the endorsement of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).
"The American people will welcome the nomination of Sen. Tom Daschle because it signals that the incoming administration intends to prioritize comprehensive healthcare reform," AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni said in a Dec. 11 statement. "Senator Daschle is exceptionally well qualified to bring people together in support of universal coverage, cost-containment and improved quality."
Some of the proposed strategies for reform may face pushback from insurance companies and others.
On Thursday, the Republican National Committee had this to say in a news release in which it quoted several news organizations: "DASCHLE WAS MAJOR PLAYER IN FAILED CLINTON HEALTH CARE PLAN."
Daschle played a major part in advocating Sen. Hillary Clinton's doomed healthcare Plan of 1993, the RNC noted in its statement.
The American Hospital Association, AHIP and Premera Blue Cross recently released a study that shows government health plans' reimbursement caps to hospitals and doctors were passed onto private insurers, costing employers and consumers nearly $90 billion more a year in healthcare payments.
In his book "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis," which was published last year, Daschle called for the creation of an independent agency modeled after the Federal Reserve that would oversee the nation's healthcare system.
Obama has proposed two roles for Daschle, one as HHS secretary and the other to lead the White House office on healthcare reform.
Daschle told the committee Thursday that on his listening tours across the country he heard many stories from citizens who have made it clear to him that dire economic circumstances are often directly connected to healthcare circumstances.
"They couldn't cope with the extraordinary expense of staying well," Daschle said. "How can we say to those people that it's just the way it is?"