President Barack Obama has upped the ante on serious health care reform with the creation of an executive office for health care reform.

Barack Obama

On Wednesday (April 8), Obama issued an executive order calling on the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create the White House Office of Health Reform, which will work closely with administration officials to accomplish what the president has said is one of his biggest priorities for the first year of his presidency.

About 45.5 million people lacked health insurance last year, according to government figures. That number has probably increased with large and small employers laying off employees as a result of the recession.

The new office will assist the president and his staff to lead “the federal government’s comprehensive effort to improve access to health care, the quality of such care, and the sustainability of the health care system,” according to the order.

The U.S. healthcare system “suffers from serious and pervasive problems,” according to the executive order.

Nancy Ann DeParle, a former Clinton Administration health official, was nominated to lead the White House office, and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a former insurance commissioner and head of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, has been nominated as Health and Human Services secretary.