Articles are out this morning on Nancy-Ann DeParle and Peter Orszag, two major players on health reform for Obama, both of whom are working on issues that worry players in the industry. Politico details Nancy-Ann DeParle’s focus on keeping the health-insurance industry’s messages in check as it pushes against Obama’s controversial idea of a public health-insurance plan. After the Washington Post ran a piece last week previewing Web videos that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina was planning in opposition to a public plan — the storyboards include references to long waits and not being able to choose your doctor — DeParle called up the company’s CEO to talk him out of it. “He said, ‘Well, Nancy-Ann, those aren’t ads. Those were just going to go up on a Web site,’” DeParle, head of the White House health-reform office, told Politico. “He’s not doing it now.” A spokesman for the company told Politico

that it is a “proponent” of health reform and that its message on it will be “positive.” Bloomberg, meanwhile, has an article on Orszag, emphasizing his the White House budget director’s focus on big variations in costs and quality in the health-care system. Orszag has perused the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care , which chronicles huge variations across the country. Orszag is a proponent of “comparative effectiveness,” comparing various treatments — an idea that the drug industry is largely resisting and that some doctors fear could force them to follow treatment rules . “Huge efficiencies could be gained if we change the way we practice medicine,” Orszag tells Bloomberg. Underscoring how much money is at stake: When he headed the Congressional Budget Office in 2007 and 2008, he called it the “Congressional Health Office,” Bloomberg notes. Photos: Getty Images

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Team Obama Keeps Up Heat on Touchy Health-Reform Issues