New at Reason: Peter Suderman on the Case For and Against Donald Berwick

July 15, 2010

If government-run health care is such a bad thing—at once too expensive, too impersonal, and too ineffective—shouldn’t those who oppose it want to see the government’s major health care payment systems run by someone who has single-mindedly devoted himself to cutting costs, focusing on patients, and increasing health outcomes? Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama’s appointee to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is, judging by his record, just such an individual. And yet his appointment generated enough early opposition, mainly from those who favor a limited role for the government in health care, that the White House took the controversial step of nominating him during a Congressional recess. That means Berwick gets to serve for a year without the Senate’s vote of approval—and, perhaps more importantly, without a public hearing. As Associate Editor Peter Suderman explains, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about Berwick’s appointment, but within the bounds of political possibility, there are also reasons to think that he might be just the man for the job.

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