Medicare Chief Turns 65 And Qualifies For Coverage He Oversees

[cbayer]

Don Berwick is our best hope for getting real and badly needed reforms into place without sacrificing access and quality. We need to pay attention, as the republicans are going to try and remove him at the end of this congressional session.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Berwick!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/09/09/140330920/medicare-chief-turns-65-and-qualifies-for-coverage-he-oversees

by PHIL GALEWITZ



Today is a big day for Medicare Chief Donald Berwick. He turns 65. And now he is the first head of the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled to also be a beneficiary.

"I'm excited," he told Shots in a pre-birthday interview Thursday. "I feel like I'm in my 20s still. I don't feel 65. It's going to be a great day to celebrate."


A pediatrician by training, Berwick was appointed administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in July 2010, despite heavy Republican opposition. He began the process of signing up for Medicare earlier this week. He hopes to have his Medicare card within a few weeks, although he said he's getting no special treatment in the application process.

Will it change his perspective on running a program that covers 47 million people? "Mostly no, I have had the beneficiaries in my mind from the day I started and now I am one of them," he said. Berwick started signing up for Medicare by going on the Medicare website and getting his birth certificate to send to the Social Security Administration.

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