CHICAGO (AP):

Barack Obama, United States president-elect, has chosen former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to lead his effort to design an overhaul of the nation's health-care system and shepherd it through Congress.

Introducing Daschle's new role yesterday, Obama stressed the link between restoring the nation's dismal economy and making health coverage more affordable and accessible to Americans.

"If we want to overcome our economic challenges, we must also finally address our health-care challenge. I can think of no one better suited to lead this effort," Obama said of Daschle.

Daschle's selection as secretary of Health and Human Services has been known for some time, but Obama made it official in a news conference. He said Daschle also will oversee a new White House Office of Health Reform.

"As such, he will be responsible not just for implementing our health-care plan. He will also be the lead architect of that plan," Obama said.

Obama said that Jeanne Lambrew will serve as deputy director of the White House office. She also served as a health and economics adviser during the Clinton administration.

Close adviser

Daschle was a close adviser to Obama throughout the presidential campaign. He recently wrote a book on his proposals to improve health care, which Lambrew helped write.

If confirmed, Daschle, 61, would oversee a department that's responsible for nearly US$1 out of every US$4 in federal government spending. He described fixing health care as one of the nation's greatest domestic challenges.

"We have the most expensive health-care system in the world, but are not the healthiest nation in the world," Daschle said.

The Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, oversees an array of programmes responsible for food and drug safety, health coverage for the elderly and the poor, medical research, early-childhood education and assistance for those in extreme poverty.