In picking Nancy-Ann DeParle to champion an overhaul of the nation's health system, President Obama selected someone with deep roots in the Washington bureaucracy, an intimate familiarity with health policy and respect on both sides of the political aisle -- not to mention degrees from Harvard Law School and Oxford University.
But in selecting DeParle, Obama also chose to overlook her business ties to companies that have a direct stake in the health care debate. The White House instantly faced questions about whether her appointment was skirting the spirit, if not the letter, of the president's conflict-of-interest policy.
DeParle, 52, who ran the agency that oversaw Medicare in the Clinton administration, is managing director of a private equity firm, CCMP Capital, and a board member of Boston Scientific, Cerner and Medco Health Solutions. Obama officials said DeParle was severing ties with those companies, and would recuse herself from participating in any matter that is related them.
The appointment drew praise from some Republicans, including Bill Thomas and Jim McCrery, both former House members who worked with DeParle on health care. DeParle, daughter of Chinese immigrants, is married to a New York Times reporter Jason DeParle.
NEW YORK TIMES
