Sebelius and DeParle know and like each other. “I introduced the two of them 15 years ago,” Shalala said. Sebelius served on a commission dealing with patients’ rights and Shalala thought she should know DeParle. They have stayed in touch ever since, she said. “They’re friends. These are not isolated appointments, though I don’t think the president knew they were friends.” She added that DeParle’s in-depth knowledge of health policy will make negotiating legislation easier because she will know what works and what does not work. “It’s almost the perfect appointment,” she said. And she praised her experience with a private equity firm, CCMP Capital, and serving on several corporate boards. “I know people are going to beat her up about that but I see it as an absolute strength,” she said. “She’s seen the health care system from the point of view of the industry. This is someone who can see everyone’s point of view.” University of Miami President and former Clinton Cabinet member Donna Shalala served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran in the 1960's.
Shalala Praises Obama’s New Health Team
Shalala Praises Obama’s New Health Team, Too
By Mary Lu Carnevale
Laura Meckler reports on the White House.
The original plan was for Tom Daschle to be both secretary of health and human services and leader of the White House office on health reform. It was a set-up praised by Donna Shalala, President Bill Clinton’s HHS secretary, who found her department was often kept out of the loop by White House officials during the Clinton health reform effort.
In December, she praised the decision to put Daschle into both spots.
“It’s exactly what you need to do because you have to control all parts of it with a single person in charge,” she said in an interview at the time. “I think they’ve learned from our mistakes and made exactly the right decision.”
Then Daschle withdrew amid controversy over late payment of taxes, and President Barack Obama decided to split the job. On Monday, he nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as HHS secretary and picked former Clinton official Nancy-Ann DeParle as head of the White House office.
But this combination is likely to work well, Shalala said Monday, because DeParle worked at HHS, heading the agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid, and respects the department’s expertise. She also praised DeParle’s private-sector experience, though she said she realizes others may criticize her for that.
Further, she said, Sebelius and DeParle know and like each other.
“I introduced the two of them 15 years ago,” Shalala said. Sebelius served on a commission dealing with patients’ rights and Shalala thought she should know DeParle. They have stayed in touch ever since, she said. “They’re friends. These are not isolated appointments, though I don’t think the president knew they were friends.”
She added that DeParle’s in-depth knowledge of health policy will make negotiating legislation easier because she will know what works and what does not work. “It’s almost the perfect appointment,” she said.
And she praised her experience with a private equity firm, CCMP Capital, and serving on several corporate boards.
“I know people are going to beat her up about that but I see it as an absolute strength,” she said. “She’s seen the health care system from the point of view of the industry. This is someone who can see everyone’s point of view.”
