Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, the top health policy adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, said reworking the U.S. health-care system is a necessary part of an economic recovery plan.

High health costs hurt the ability of U.S. businesses to stay competitive and create new jobs, making it a “top priority” that health-system changes not be delayed, said Daschle, speaking today in Denver at a health-care forum.

Businesses last month eliminated 533,000 jobs, the Labor Department said today in Washington, and the November unemployment rate of 6.7 percent is the highest since 1993. With more than half of Americans getting health coverage through employer-provided benefits, job reductions make it harder for people to maintain health insurance. The new administration needs to help everyone get affordable coverage, Daschle said.

“That’s what makes this so urgent and so much a part of the economic recovery process,” Daschle said. “I believe that for the first time in American history, health-care reform will be done.”

Daschle, who currently is head of health policy for the president-elect’s transition team, has accepted Obama’s offer to become Health and Human Services secretary, a Democratic official familiar with the matter said last month.

The former Democratic senator from South Dakota urged today that Americans join in community discussions in the last two weeks of December to develop ideas for new national policies that will reduce health costs, boost the quality of care and get everyone coverage. The events are being organized through the transition team’s Web site, change.gov.

“In order for us to reform our health-care system, we must first begin reforming how government communicates with the American people,” Obama said in an e-mailed statement after Daschle’s speech. “I encourage Americans to take part if they are able.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Aliza Marcus in Washington at amarcus8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 5, 2008 13:40 EST