SD plays role in first Obama cabinet meeting - Daily Republic
Soon afterward, he noted a dire problem.“On the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, one half of the people over 40 have diabetes,” he told the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “And the life expectancy today is just 47 years, or what life expectancy was for the rest of the country in 1900. This is unacceptable. We need to make sure that every American gets high-quality care, and if you see fit to support my nomination, I’ll make sure this goal includes the Indian Health Service.”
During the question-and-answer portion of the hearing, the committee members and Daschle kept coming back to South Dakota, most often as a comparison to other states.
First, though, Daschle quoted from a long-gone highway sign in answering concerns from Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., about data that shows America’s children of today will be the first generation less healthy than their parents and grandparents.
“That’s never occurred in our history before,” Dodd said.
Los Angeles TimesSD plays role in first Obama cabinet meeting Tom Daschle’s confirmation hearing for the job of Health and Human Services secretary on C-SPAN, you likely heard references to South Dakota. Video: Ted Kennedy Speaks To CBS News Daschle kicks off Obama cabinet Senate hearings Daschle tells Senate committee his ideas for running HHS -