Administration News | Overhauling Health Care System 'Integral' to Economic Recovery Effort, President-Elect Obama Says
[Nov 25, 2008]

President-elect Barack Obama on Monday during a press conference named Melody Barnes as director of his White House Domestic Policy Council, which will work on issues such as health care reform, a concern that Obama called an "integral part" of an economic recovery, CQ HealthBeat reports. Barnes currently serves as executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and previously has served as chief counsel to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on the Senate Judiciary Committee and as a senior domestic policy adviser to the Obama campaign.

Barnes "will be working hand in hand with my economic policy team to chart a course to economic recovery," Obama said, adding, "An integral part of that course will be health care reform, and she will work closely with my secretary" of HHS to address the issue (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 11/24).

In addition, Obama said that "rebuilding our economy will require action on a wide array of policy matters -- from education and health care to energy and Social Security." He added, "Without sound policies in these areas, we can neither enjoy sustained economic growth nor realize our full potential as a people" (Fletcher, Washington Post, 11/25).