Tom Daschle, President-elect Obama’s point man on the healthcare issue, is discussing the new administration’s early strategy for reforming the healthcare system.
The strategy begins with giving people the chance to highlight their concerns and experiences. Daschle invited people around the U.S. to hold what amounts to house parties from Dec. 15-31. Obama’s transition team will gather the information from those meetings and post the material on its Website. (It appears there is not yet a mechanism to share stories on the site).
By asking anybody and everybody to share their health-care experiences, Daschle is confronting one of the major criticisms of 15 years ago: that the effort to craft former President Bill Clinton’s plan for universal coverage was too secretive.