The players are lining up in Washington for the Obama Administration’s first summit on health care issues. The teams include business, labor, and consumer organizations and just about every segment of the health care industry, as the country begins to hash out a new direction for what has grown to be what many consider to be the seminal issue facing the nation.

Democratic presidents as far back as Truman have sought to bring change to the current health care system, but President Obama has stated emphatically that it will happen on his watch. And the state of the system has deteriorated so drastically that he is well positioned to make it a reality. To build support, he has focused on making sure his proposals will be viewed not as Big Brother, big government moves, but rather as fiscally sound, pro-business, and economically necessary so that U.S. companies can better compete in the global economy in the future.

And as various stakeholders in the outcome draw their battle lines, he’s made it clear that those who are invested in maintaining the status quo will have a major fight on their hands.

But the jury is still out on whether Kathleen Sebelius, the newly nominated secretary of Health and Human Services, has the political acumen to work effectively across the aisle to get a bill passed by both houses of Congress, as many people believe Tom Daschle could have done.

As I troll the liberal and conservative political blogs for opinions about the capabilities of Obama’s pick for health czar, Nancy-Ann De Parle, however, I find nothing but praise and optimism. De Parle had a high profile in the Clinton Whitehouse, serving as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and advisor to Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

Few would argue that health care reform should be a priority, but the devil, as they say, is in the details– and employers have a lot at stake in the outcome. ###