Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Donald Berwick’s Tenure Rationed With Our Eyes Open

In a holiday edition of “Take Out the Trash Day,” the Administration announced this afternoon that Medicare Administrator Donald Berwick was resigning effective December 2 (next Friday).  Deputy Administrator Marilyn Tavenner has been nominated to succeed Berwick, whose statements in support of the British single-payer system and “rationing with our eyes open” sparked widespread controversy.

It is of course ironic that given the Administration’s mantra of “We Can’t Wait,” the White House took three years to nominate a Medicare chief who might actually be confirmable.  Recall reports from earlier this year suggesting that even Senate Democrats did not want Berwick’s confirmation to go ahead, as Finance Committee Chairman Baucus refused to schedule a hearing on Berwick’s appointment.

On this day before Thanksgiving, all Americans should give thanks that the Obama Administration finally gave in to political and constitutional realities, and submitted the nomination of a new Medicare Administrator to the Senate.  However, many may still be concerned at the circumstances by which an unconfirmed bureaucrat was given control over every American’s health insurance, and a budget larger than the Pentagon’s, for nearly a year and a half without so much as a cursory confirmation hearing.