It's official.

President-elect Barack Obama announced today that Tom Daschle will be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services and will direct the White House Office of Health Reform. The dual role guarantees that health reform will stay in the spotlight for the new administration.

While Obama's choice of Daschle had been widely reported, today the President-elect made clear he expects the former Senate Majority leader to not only implement reforms, but also to help create them.

In both their remarks, Obama and Daschle stressed that restoring our nation's economy requires reforming the health care system.

How soon you ask? Obama said the problem needs to be addressed "this year, in this administration," and promised an open and transparent process that would bring everyone to the table, and yes, there will be C-Span. Daschle called for an inclusive process beginning from the grassroots up with thousands of volunteers holding community discussions that will inform the next administration's decisions.

Obama also announced that Jeanne Lambrew, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a co-author of Daschle's book Critical, will serve as Daschle's deputy director of the White House Office of Health Reform. CAP's Think Progress and Wonk Room have more. 

During Q&A, Obama was asked how he would pay for his proposed plans--which during the campaign were estimated to cost around $65 billion a year--had changed given the current economic situation. Obama replied that first and foremost, his plan starts by looking for ways to reduce cost and find savings in the system. That means investing up-front in things like Health IT and prevention that will save money in long term. It also means finding ways to pay for it in the short term; and, while he suggested he would direct his advisers to create space in the budget for such investments, he said he had not yet made a decision on whether he would push for an early roll back of the Bush tax cuts for the high-income or whether, given current and projected economic conditions, he would let them expire on time.