Today in Washington, D.C. - July 12, 2010 - Americans Deserve Answers On Berwick's Controversial Health Care Beliefs

The Senate convened at 2 PM. At 5:30 PM, a vote was scheduled on a yet-to-be-specified judicial nomination. Also possible this week is another cloture vote on the Democrats’ debt-extending “tax extenders bill,” H.R. 4213. Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee has a markup scheduled for the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. A vote on her nomination is expected to be held over until next week.

In an editorial, The Wall Street Journal writes today, “Among Donald Berwick's greatest rhetorical hits is this one: ‘any health-care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must—must—redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and less fortunate.’ Count that as one more reason that President Obama made Dr. Berwick a recess appointee to run Medicare and Medicaid rather than have this philosophy debated in the Senate.”

Indeed, most observers seem to agree that the main reason Obama installed Berwick without so much as a hearing was to avoid embarrassing questions about his controversial views on health care. Interviewing top Obama political advisor David Axelrod yesterday, ABC’s Jake Tapper said of Berwick, “You didn't want to have a hearing, because he was going to be attacked.” Axelrod responded by saying, “[W]e wanted to move because we needed someone in place . . . .” On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace also made the point about the hearings, asking Axelrod, “Isn't the real reason that Berwick got a recess appointment because you didn't want to defend some of his controversial statements?” Axelrod shot back, “Absolutely not.”

But why else circumvent the hearing process? Berwick wasn’t even nominated until after the unpopular health care bill had passed, suggesting the administration didn’t want Berwick’s controversial musings about rationed care and his love for the nationalized British health care system to add to the difficulty of the health care debate. Even the Democrat chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, was critical of the decision to recess appoint Berwick, saying, “I’m troubled that, rather than going through the standard nomination process, Dr. Berwick was recess appointed. . . . Senate confirmation of presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on executive power and protects Montanans and all Americans by ensuring that crucial questions are asked of the nominee — and answered.”

Sen. Baucus is quite right that questions need to be answered by Berwick. Not only does he need to explain his controversial remarks about rationing of care and redistribution of wealth through health care, his advocacy of a single-payer system, and his declaration that the British government-run health care system is “such a seductress,” Berwick also needs to answer question about how he’ll go about implementing the massive new health care law passed by Democrats. How will he go about implementing the $500 billion in Medicare cuts? Who will get the short end of the stick, and how will he decide who gets it? Does he agree with the CMS actuary report contradicting many of the core claims the Obama administration made about their health care law? And how does he feel about CMS using taxpayer money to distribute disputed statements (by the CMS actuary, no less) to seniors about that law?

Americans deserve answers to these questions. But, as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said last week, apparently “the mere possibility of allowing the American people the opportunity to hear what [Berwick] intends to do with their health care is evidently reason enough for this Administration to sneak him through without public scrutiny.”

“Just over three months after passage of this misguided law, with Americans' worst fears about it being realized every day, the fact that this Administration won't allow the man charged with implementing the President's plan to cut $500 billion out of Medicare to testify about his plans for the care of our nation's seniors is truly outrageous,” Sen. McConnell said.

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Tags: US Senate, Washington, D.C., Donald Berwick, health care, Obama Care, rationing care, SCOTUS, Elena Kagan To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!