Day 40 - healthcare appointment
Updated on 12 December 2008
Thursday 12 December 2008: appointing a chief to drive ambitious healthcare reforms.
Barack Obama announced his choice to lead his healthcare reform programme - former Senator Tom Daschle to spearhead healthcare reform with Dr Jeanne Lambrew as his deputy.
In another of the almost-daily press conference, Obama said "it is hard to overstate the urgency of their work.
"Over the past eight years, premiums have nearly doubled and more families are facing more medical debt than ever before," he added.
"Now, some may ask how, at this moment of economic challenge, we can afford to invest in reforming our health care system. Well, I ask a different question - I ask how we can afford not to."
Daschle, a former Senate majority leader from 2001 to 2003, will lead Obama's new White House office on health reform and serve as secretary of health and human services, making him the top Obama authority on healthcare reform.
