President Barack Obama was criticized, not surprisingly, by the Republicans when he chose to bypass the Senate to make a key appointment. Professor Donald Berwick’s name had been nominated as long as three months ago, by Obama, to run the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Both programs look after the care of seniors as well as poor people.
The Republicans claim that they delayed the whole process because they were afraid that healthcare would be rationed as a means of cutting costs. Obama was of course, critical about those claims. He said that members of Congress need to look past their political differences and make the decisions that would help America faces the challenges it faces today. He also said that it was unfortunate that he to choose the bypass method, which was perfectly within his rights, to make the appointment. He also highlighted the fact the 180 nominations were stagnating in the Senate.
Professor Berwick was, at the time of appointment, a professor of pediatrics and of public health at Harvard. He had also functioned as the head of a nonprofit organization called Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The institute attempts to improve healthcare across the world. The professor is a key man for Obama, as the role he takes on is at the center of Obama’s healthcare reform plan.
Berwick’s appointment was not the only one that Obama made that day. He appointed Phillip Coyle to the post of Associate Director for National Security and Joshua Gotbaum was given the post of Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.