Despite pessimism in some quarters that the economic crisis will prevent President-elect Barack Obama from signing universal health care legislation in 2009, his administration is preparing a public relations blitz.
Linda Douglass, the former television journalist and current chief inaugural spokesman, will the public affairs chief to Ex-Sen. Tom Daschle at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Jenny Backus will be a senior strategic counselor to Daschle.
And Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the CNN medical editor and Emory University neurosurgeon, has accepted the position of Surgeon General with the knowledge that the administration plans to use him as a chief surrogate for health care legislation.
The goal is to begin extensive, public hearings immediately; the administration hopes that Congress will pass a bill by the fall.
Though Obama laid down specific reform principles during his campaign, pressure groups are fiercely lobbying the administration to change its mind about the wisdom of a single-payer system, where the government would bear all costs through Medicare. Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. John Dingell support this approach. Obama still prefers a mixture of expanded government programs and private insurance options; undecided, for now, is whether he will require all adults to purchase insurance.
On Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly approved a significant expansion of S-CHIP, government insurance for children; the Senate will pass the same bill soon. President Bush vetoed it twice. Additionally, Obama and Congressional Democrats want to use the stimulus package to provide a downpayment on health system modernization.
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