July 12, 2010 8:41AM 

# The Recess Appointment of Donald Berwick 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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Late last week, President Obama made a [recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-recess-appointments-key-administration-positions-0) to head the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly the Health Care Financing Administration). This has provided a good chunk of the week and weekend’s [polititainment](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,596382,00.html).

I know little about Berwick or his merits as an administrator of the government health care system, but in an April Cato@Liberty post I reviewed an article of his on “patient-centered health care.” If you’re interested, take a look at my comment, “[A Little Less Poetry, a Little More Economics](https://www.cato.org/2010/04/08/a-little-less-poetry-a-little-more-economics/).”

##### Related Tags 

[Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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