Some Long-Awaited Transparency from Donald Berwick
At the top of the hour, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on Medicare featuring CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick. While Dr. Berwick has now been in office for nearly eight months, his public appearances have been few and far between. In fact, he has done to great lengths to avoid public contact with either reporters or Members of Congress. Since his controversial recess appointment in July, Dr. Berwick:
- “Exited behind a stage” at a July press event on health IT regulations before the media were allowed to ask questions, according to Inside Health Policy;
- Declined to participate in an August conference call with reporters to discuss a report on Medicare’s solvency;
- Declined to participate in the release of the annual Medicare trustees report;
- Declined to respond to interview requests from both the New York Times and Congressional Quarterly;
- Declined to remain on an August conference call “to take questions from reporters,” according to The Hill;
- “Left without taking questions from reporters” after delivering a speech to health insurance executives and lobbyists;
- Declined to answer a series of questions from a reporter about his prior writings on rationing; an Administration official accompanying Dr. Berwick responded solely that “He’s not taking any questions;” and
- Failed to deliver the “point-by-point rebuttal” to his critics previously promised at his (VERY brief) Finance Committee hearing in November;
- Required a “security escort” to avoid questions from reporters during an appearance in early December;
- Held a closed-door meeting with lobbyists and other industry executives.
As the New York Times previously noted, Dr. Berwick’s agency “has a budget bigger than the Pentagon’s” – and, with the reorganization announced last month, handles the health insurance (either through financing or regulations) of ALL Americans. Yet Dr. Berwick refuses to answer questions from reporters about his history of controversial writings – and except for a very short and orchestrated appearance before the Finance Committee, has yet to receive much substantive scrutiny from Congress as well. This pattern of conduct is hardly consistent with the Administration’s promise of “an unmatched level of transparency” in government. Thankfully, however, Republicans will now have opportunities publicly to hold Dr. Berwick – and the rest of the Administration – to account for their unpopular health care law.