WSJ Washington Wire: Ex-Medicare Chief Takes Gloves Off

[flpoljunkie]

Ex-Medicare Chief Takes Gloves Off

By Janet Adamy

Now that he’s not running the Medicare and Medicaid programs, Donald Berwick is taking off the gloves to attack his Washington critics.

Dr. Berwick, a former pediatrician, ran the two programs until last week, when he stepped down because his recess appointment was about to run out. Senate Republicans showed no signs of confirming him, so Marilyn Tavenner, already a top official at the agency, took over.

In a speech Thursday in Orlando, Fla., Dr. Berwick had particularly sharp words for those who described the 2010 health overhaul as containing “death panels.”

“It is beyond cruelty to have subjected our elders, especially, to groundless fear in the pure service of political agendas,” Dr. Berwick told a health conference, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.

He went on: “Maybe a real death panel is a group of people who tell health care insurers that is it OK to take insurance away from people because they are sick or are at risk for becoming sick.”

more...

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/12/08/ex-medicare-chief-takes-gloves-off/