Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has been offered the job of Health and Human Services secretary by President-elect Barack Obama and has accepted the job, according to a Democratic source close to Daschle.

Daschle, who served in the Senate until he lost his re-election bid in 2004, also is set to take on the position of “health care czar” in the Obama White House, ensuring that he does not get bigfooted on matters relating to health care policy, according to this source.

Daschle was a close adviser to Obama throughout the Illinois Democrat’s presidential campaign, and has been outspoken about his desire to enact a government-funded health care insurance program to help cover the approximately 40 million Americans who do not have coverage.