President-elect Barack Obama reasserted his pledge to overhaul the nation's healthcare system when he takes office Thursday. Therefore he chose former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle to lead his drive. Daschle's nomination as secretary of health and human services has to be confirmed by the Senate.

If confirmed by the Senate, he will replace HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt in guiding critical, high-profile federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Institutes of Health.

In a recent book titled Critical: “What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis,” Daschle advocated universal health coverage to reach 46 million uninsured people. He said this could be done by expanding the federal employee health benefits program to include private employer plans together with Medicare and Medicaid.

News of the nomination leaked late last month. But Obama said today that he also plans for Daschle to head a new White House Office of Health Reform. This is a fisrt signal towards the fact that Obama would not back away from his campaign promises to expand insurance coverage, hold down skyrocketing costs and improve the quality of care.

Moreover Obama called him "one of America's foremost health care experts" and "the original no-drama guy" while discussing the future of the health care system today in Chicago.

Mr. Daschle has spent the past few weeks reaching out to major healthcare players, organizing nationwide community discussions on reforms, and working with leaders in Congress. They’ve signaled they’d like to have a healthcare bill ready for debate as early as January.