Daschle pledges healthcare bipartisanship

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Health and Human Service Secretary nominee Tom Daschle pledged Thursday to work in a bipartisan manner to revamp the U.S. healthcare system.

During his confirmation hearing, the former Senate majority leader also promised he would keep his grassroots approach to healthcare reform ideology-free, taking a swipe at the Bush administration that has been accused of mixing facts and beliefs on health issues such as stem cell research, abortion and sexual behavior, The New York Times reported.

"We will be guided by evidence and effectiveness, not by ideology," the South Dakota Democrat said during the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing. "When it comes to healthcare, we really are in it together."

President-elect Barack Obama's point man on healthcare said the recent trend of healthcare spending exceeding inflation is "as unsustainable for our national budget as it is for a family budget."

Conversations with citizens and with business leaders helped drive home the breadth of healthcare-related problems, Daschle told the panel, noting that General Motors Corp. and Starbucks spend more in healthcare than they do on steel or coffee, respectively.