FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Thair Phillips, President,
202-628-5095 or 703-593-2447,
tphillips@retiresafe.org
RetireSafe Protests the Recess Appointment of Dr. Donald
Berwick as CMS Administrator
Washington, DC (July 8, 2010) - 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.
