White House: Berwick Nomination ‘Vitally Important’ to Fill Without Senate Hearing Given Health Care Challenges

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said it was “very clear” that President Barack Obama’s nomination of Dr. Donald Berwick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was going to be “dragged on and on” by Republicans, and with the “challenges” facing America’s health care system, it was “vitally important that we fill this position” without a Senate confirmation hearing.