WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine told President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services that Americans don’t get their money’s worth in health care.

In her meeting with Tom Daschle on Tuesday, Snowe said Americans spend $2.2 trillion per year on healthcare. Snowe says that’s nearly 17 percent of the gross domestic product. But the Republican says America still lags behind other countries in quality of care and effectiveness of treatment.

Snowe says she wants to work with the Obama administration to achieve universal health coverage.

Snowe and Daschle have known each other for years. They both entered Congress in 1979 and worked together on health care issues in the Senate.