U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is expected to nominate former Senate leader Tom Daschle as secretary of Health and Human Services. Obama will also give some specifics about his plans to change the system after taking office in January 20. He has stated repeatedly that Americans can’t get through the economic problems without reforming the health care system.

“Providing quality affordable health care for all Americans is one of my top priorities for this country because our long-term fiscal prospects will have a hard time improving as long as sky-rocketing health care costs are holding us all down,” Obama said in a statement earlier this month.

Daschle is a former U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader from South Dakota. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Daschle served as Democratic leader in the Senate from 1995 until 2004, when he lost a re-election bid.

In his recent book, titled “Critical: What Can We Do About the Health Care Crisis,” Daschle referred to the need of health care coverage program that would reach 46 million uninsured Americans by expanding the federal employee health benefits program to include private employer plans together with Medicaid and Medicare. He said reforming health care in the United States must be a priority in the current economic situation.

A recent report, released by Tuesday by the Trust for America’s Health, has revealed that the economic crisis could seriously affect the nation’s ability to handle possible bioterrorist attacks, a pandemic, or a natural disaster. States have shown progress toward public health preparedness but the authors of the report say that cuts in state budgets for public health services could lead to a disaster for medical progress.

Given this situation, there are questions whether the team would be able to carry out their plans.