Pilgrim: President Obama today declared that special interests and lobbyists have blocked health care reform for decades and he said those groups will not prevail this time around, but the president has still asked those very same special interests and lobbyists to help shape his reforms and his health czar has close ties to the health care industry. Louise Schiavone reports.
Schiavone: President Obama kicked off a health care summit involving hundreds of billions of dollars worth of possible reforms with this lament.
Obama: Our inability to reform health care in the past is just one example of how special interests have had their way and the public interest has fallen by the wayside.
Schiavone: But on the inside track of Mr. Obama's health reform team is newly appointed health czar with extensive industry connections. Nancy-Ann DeParle, seen here to the left of the president. Among her corporate achievements, she's been a top executive of CCMP Capital, a private equity firm with significant healthcare holdings, and a board member of Boston Scientific, Medco health solutions, and Cerner, a company in the forefront of electronic medical record advancements. Could there be a conflict of interest?
Rep Issi: There’s no question that there will be a large presidential earmark for integrating a data system to try to reduce costs, to try to put people’s health records all into a single database. A lot of these efficiencies, although merited, are going to lead to picking very large mutli-billion dollar winners and she's going to be at the center of it all.
Schiavone: The White House has promised that DeParle is severing all ties with the companies and will recuse herself from participating in matters related to former clients or employers.
Gibbs: The White House has confidence in her and her abilities as part of the health care reform effort here.
Schiavone: And as a Clinton administration veteran, her accomplishments in both the public and private sector have earned her high praise.
Ottinger: It's critical that everybody have a seat at the table, that all sectors of our society be represented.
Schiavone: Meanwhile, Senator Robert Byrd has expressed concern about the Obama administration's czar system in general telling the president in a letter "As presidential assistants and advisers, these White House staffers are not accountable for their actions to the Congress, to cabinet officials, and to virtually anyone but the President."
Kitty, Senator Byrd's communication to the president preceded the appointment of health czar, Nancy DeParle, but she like others with similar positions at the White House doesn't need senate confirmation, which means she will not have to take questions from the congress about her past associations. Kitty.
Pilgrim: Alright, thanks very much, Louise Schiavone.
