FACTBOX: Daschle to promote ambitious U.S. healthcare plan

(Reuters) - Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle began his quest for Congressional approval to lead President-elect Barack Obama's ambitious plan to reform U.S. health care.

Daschle appeared before a Senate committee in hearings to confirm his role as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He has also been named to head a new White House Office of Health Reform.

Here are some facts about the plan and health care in the United States:

-- Health care made up 16.2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product in 2007.

-- The U.S. Census Bureau says 46 million Americans have no health insurance.

-- Most Americans get health insurance through employers, while about 110 million are covered by Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

-- According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. healthcare spending in 2007 was $2.2 trillion in 2007, or $7,421 per person

-- According to the non-profit Commonwealth Fund, the United States ranks last among 19 industrialized nations in a test of health outcomes, quality and efficiency.

-- Infant mortality in the United States is high compared to other developed nations, with seven out of 1,000 live-born babies dying compared to 2.8 in Japan and 3.1 in Sweden.

-- Americans have high rates of obesity, with more than a third of the adult population overweight and another third obese.

-- Daschle said he supports the idea of a "medical home", a primary care doctor who would help coordinate and oversee care, as well as paying doctors to spend time with patients on preventing disease and rewarding them for better outcomes.

-- Obama campaigned with proposals for a National Health Insurance Exchange to help people buy private insurance, act as a watchdog and create standards.

-- Obama also proposes spending $50 billion to create a cohesive system for electronic health records.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Eric Walsh)