Daschle to Head Health and Human Services - Good or bad?

It was announced today that former Senator Tom Daschle is Obama's choice for secretary of health and human services.

Obama previously said that healthcare is “not something that we can put off because we are in an emergency. This is part of the emergency.” The new health czar clearly shares this sense of urgency. He said that “Our growing costs are unsustainable, and the plight of the uninsured is unconscionable.”

But how will all these sentiments translate into practical solutions?

Will the government offer its own health insurance plan, to compete with private plans as the new administration proposed during the campaign? Will the private insurers hold down costs and improve care if they have to compete with a public plan? Or will they simply be driven from the market?

In a meantime, we still find that there is no practical alternative to medical tourism for those who need treatments now.

What do you think?