Congress: Another health-care fight
Filed Under: CongressRepublicans have opened an assault on the nomination of Harvard professor Donald Berwick to lead the huge agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid, calling Berwick an advocate for ‘rationing’ health care,” the Boston Globe writes. “Berwick, a pediatrician and president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a not-for-profit organization in Cambridge, is widely respected by many veteran policy officials across the political spectrum, who say he has a firm understanding of how to overhaul parts of the healthcare system that lead to excessive costs, waste, and poor health outcomes. But GOP lawmakers are becoming increasingly vocal in their attacks on Berwick, citing his support of controlling costs and his statements praising aspects of the United Kingdom’s national health system. They contend his positions show that he would seek to transform US health care into a tightly controlled system, reducing patient choices and delaying treatments.”
