Player Profile -- Jeanne Lambrew

Courtesy Who Runs Gov

Lambrew, a health policy expert, academic and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), is heading the Health and Human Services Office of Health Reform, under HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Lambrew, was originally set work at the White House Office of Health Reform as deputy to Tom Daschle, who had been nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Daschle and Lambrew worked together at the CAP and co-authored a book on health-care reform.

The Obama administration had charged the duo with spearheading a massive reform effort. But the plan went awry in February 2009 after Daschle withdrew his nomination over tax issues. Former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius took over Daschle's would-be role at HHS, and Nancy-Ann DeParle took over the White House Office of Health Reform.

Jeanne Lambrew

But Lambrew survived the turmoil and has shifted to the Health Reform Office within HHS that mirrors the White House office.

Lambrew already has one unsuccessful health-care reform attempt under her belt. She served at Bill Clinton’s Health and Human Services Department during the failed 1993 bid to reform the system. Furthermore, Lambrew was a White House health policy aide during Clinton’s second term, working on the president’s 1993 Medicare overhaul plan and a long-term care initiative as well as oversight of Medicaid and disability programs.

Lambrew helped create the successful State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and has said she wants to focus the attention of the American health-care system on preventing illness. In the book she co-authored with Daschle, they promote universal health care and propose creating a central health agency similar to the Federal Reserve System.

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