RetireSafe Protests the Recess Appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as CMS Administrator

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Jul 09, 2010, 09:00 ET

WASHINGTON, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- RetireSafe President Thair Phillips, speaking on behalf of more than 400,000 senior-citizen supporters across America, today protested President Obama's recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services. Phillips noted, "The appointment of Dr. Berwick, a man who is already being called 'Rationer-in-Chief' because of his love affair with the socialized British National Health System, to oversee Medicare without allowing him to be questioned thoroughly in Congressional hearings, is a clear insult to every older American."

"First, Medicare beneficiaries are facing roughly $500 billion in funding cuts to pay for the President's new health care reform law, over the next ten years," Phillips said. "To have someone like Berwick, who is an avowed and very public fan of socialized health care systems that feature blatant ageism and health care rationing, take over CMS is a very frightening prospect for millions of seniors who can certainly predict that any needed 'savings' will come from rationed care," he continued. "We were looking forward to Congressional hearings to expose Berwick's views to the public and perhaps to impose at least some limits on his health care rationing plans by virtue of the process," Phillips emphasized.

"Now seniors and all Americans have been robbed of that opportunity," he said. Phillips added, "Anyone who calls Britain's National Health Service a 'global treasure' is someone older Americans should fear at CMS, and someone Congress should have the right to question at length and perhaps reject completely for such a critical post. We urge President Obama to reconsider the recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as CMS Administrator," he concluded.

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