Democrats apparently aren’t worried about jinxing the election, because they are already beginning to openly discuss how Hillary Clinton will work with Congress as president to repair the Affordable Care Act and who she will appoint to top health positions in her administration.

Politico reports Clinton already has a dozen paid staffers focusing on her transition to the presidency in early September. The team is focused on identifying people to serve in high-level administration positions.

If Clinton is elected, as polls currently suggest is probable, the political world, health advocates and the health care industry will be particularly focused on who she will pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Modern Healthcare discusses a number of potential Clinton picks for those positions, based on comments from Democrats with close ties to health policy. Here are a number of the top officials identified, along with some additional analysis on what they could bring to the table.

(Photo: AP)

Sylvia Maxwell Burwell

If the current HHS chief is willing to deal with another four years of fights over the ACA, she will likely be welcomed in the Clinton administration. Despite the challenges facing the ACA and the partisan divisions over health care in general, the current secretary has been recognized by insiders as weathering the storm as well as could be expected.

(Photo: AP)

Tom Daschle

The former Senate Democratic leader is certainly a health care expert, but if he were nominated for a top administration position, it is likely that he would face the same resistance that led to his withdrawal after being nominated by President Obama to be HHS secretary in 2009. Daschle, who made a good living in the world of lobbying, withdrew after controversy over not reporting his income taxes fully.

(Photo: AP)

Jennifer Granholm

The former Michigan governor has not been as closely associated with health care policy as some of the other names on this list, but she did chair the health care committee of the National Governors Association and has been an outspoken proponent of expanding coverage. She is a strong political ally of Hillary Clinton’s and is helping to lead the Super PAC supporting Clinton’s presidential campaign.

(Photo: AP)

Michael Leavitt

Leavitt, the only Republican on the list, was formerly governor of Utah and HHS secretary during George W. Bush’s second term. Since then, he has worked with the Bipartisan Policy Center on health-related research. While most presidents try to appoint at least one member of the other party to their cabinet, health may be an issue too polarizing for a member of the other party.

(Photo: AP)

Neera Tanden

A former Clinton aide who is currently executive director for the Center for American Progress, a liberal think-tank, Tanden has the additional benefit of serving on the Clinton transition team. Her combination of policy and advocacy experience might make her a good fit for HHS secretary, since she will be expected to not only help fix the ACA but publicly defend those decisions to the public and Congress.

Ann O'Leary, right, and husband Goodwin Liu. (Photo: AP)

Ann O’Leary

Similar to Tanden, O’Leary is a current adviser to Clinton’s campaign and serves as a fellow at the Center for American Progress. Her ties to Clinton go back to Clinton’s days in the Senate, when O’Leary was charged with helping her craft Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit signed into law by President George W. Bush.

Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, right, with Bill Clinton. (Photo: AP)

Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey

The president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Lavizzo-Mourey has been at the forefront of a group that has been pushing for liberal policies to expand health care coverage or lower health costs. The group has also been a staunch defender of the ACA and has published a number of studies highlighting the positive effects of the landmark law.

(Photo: AP)

Nancy-Ann DeParle

A veteran Washington policy wonk, DeParle served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, most notably as the head of the White House Office of Health Care Reform, which was responsible for pushing for the ACA in 2009 and 2010. DeParle also oversaw Medicare during the Clinton administration, an experience that could make her valuable as the federal government tries to rein in Medicare spending by reforming the reimbursement model.

(Photo: AP)

Steve Beshear

The former governor of Kentucky became an ACA star by enthusiastically embracing all elements of the health care overhaul in a way that was largely considered a success. He expanded Medicaid in the Bluegrass State as well as set up the state’s own insurance exchange, Kynect, which his GOP successor is currently in the midst of dismantling.

(Photo: AP)

Andy Slavitt

The current head of CMS got major credit for saving Healthcare.gov after its bumbling roll-out in late 2013. Because fixing the ACA marketplace will be the top priority for a future Clinton administration, getting a person onboard who has been in the middle of CMS’ attempts to attract more enrollees will be key for Clinton. On the other hand, the current shortcomings of the exchange might lead Clinton to pick an outsider with some different ideas.

(Photo: AP)

Dr. Patrick Conway

The chief medical officer for CMS has been in charge of the agency’s efforts to develop new reimbursement models to lower costs for Medicare, a program whose reform is likely necessary to prevent a fiscal disaster in the coming years.

(Photo: AP)

David Cutler

Cutler is an economics professor at Harvard who served in the Clinton administration and has been an informal adviser to President Obama on health care economics. He is considered an expert on how health care consumers act and choose the health plans they do. As the federal government struggles to boost enrollment in the ACA marketplace, that type of insight will be highly-valued.

(Photo: WhiteHouse.gov)

Julian Harris

Not only has Harris had a top health-related position in the Office of Management and Budget under Obama, but he also ran the Massachusetts Medicaid program once upon a time. Now he runs CareAllies, a nonprofit focused on training “physician groups and delivery systems to navigate the transition to value-based care,” according to his LinkedIn profile. His experience in outcome-based payment models may make him a top choice to lead CMS.

(Photo: AP)

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel

Also affiliated with the Center for American Progress, Emanuel is one of the few MDs identified as a top contender for an administration position. Emanuel, who is trained as an oncologist, teaches bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and was denounced by some conservative critics as being a driving force behind so-called “death panels” because of statements he has made about how to deliver limited supplies of medical resources (transplants, for instance) to patients who are most likely to benefit from them. (Think he looks familiar? Younger brother Rahm is mayor of Chicago.)

(Photo: atulgawande.com)

Dr. Atul Gawande

Another doctor (a surgeon) Gawande is a professor of health at Harvard and has been a prolific and prominent writer on a number of health-related issues. An article he wrote in the New Yorker in 2009, which compared health outcomes in two different towns in Texas, was credited as greatly influencing many Democratic leaders’ opinions on health care. He also has experience in federal government, having served as an adviser to former President Clinton.

(Photo: AP)

Peter Lee

The head of the California ACA exchange brings a lot to the table. Having run the largest state-administered health insurance exchange puts him in a better position than most to oversee Healthcare.gov. He also worked in HHS under Obama, so he has already gotten a glimpse of the federal bureaucracy.

(Photo: Screenshot of YouTube video)

Liz Fowler

Referred to by some as the “architect” of the ACA, Fowler played a key role in drafting the landmark law as an aide to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. She left the Senate, however, to take a position in the pharmaceutical industry, a fact that may cause pushback from Democrats on the left.

(Photo: Screenshot of CBS video)

Kavita Patel

An internist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Patel also has a ton of political experience. She served as a top aide to former Sen. Ted Kennedy as well as an aide to Valerie Jarrett, one of President Obama’s most trusted advisers.

(Photo: AP)

Deval Patrick

The former governor of Massachusetts oversaw the implementation of “Romneycare,” which many view as the precursor to the ACA. He also has political instincts and experience that Hillary Clinton clearly respects, since recently-leaked emails show he was discussed as a potential VP pick.

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Dems ponder Hillary Clinton's future health officials

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