Obama Puts Advocate of European-Style Socialized Medicine in Charge of Medicare
President Circumvents Senate to Appoint “Dangerous Advocate of Rationing” As CMS Head
President Obama: Health Care Reform Should “Build On Our Traditions Here In The United States”:
“But I believe -- and I've taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief -- that it's important for our reform efforts to build on our traditions here in the United States. So when you hear the naysayers claim that I'm trying to bring about government-run health care, know this: They're not telling the truth.” (President Obama speech, “Remarks by the President at the Annual Conference of the American Medical Association,” whitehouse.gov, 6/15/2009)
RED ALERT: Obama Appoints Doctor With “Professed Admiration For Britain’s National Health Service” As Medicare Head:
“The White House announced late Tuesday that President Barack Obama will use a recess appointment to make Donald Berwick administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, angering Republicans who had opposed his nomination. A Harvard professor and pediatrician, Berwick has won endorsements from most major medical societies. But his nomination has drawn vicious criticism from Republicans, who have seized on his professed admiration for Britain's National Health Service as an ‘example’ for the United States to follow… The move fans flames of an already heated battle over Berwick's nomination, with advocates and opponents vying to frame the new CMS leader as, alternatively, an innovative health care leader or dangerous advocate of rationing.” (Sarah Kliff and Jennifer Haberkorn, “Obama to skip Senate on Berwick,” Politico, 7/06/2010)