On February 17, 2009, four weeks after his inauguration, President Barack Obama signed into law a $787 billion economic stimulus package.1,2 The economic impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as the measure is officially known, will not be apparent for months. Nonetheless, the bill's approval — even before any new senior officials of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) were in place — has jump-started the Obama administration's plans for health care.