President Barack Obama's recess appointment of Donald Berwick to lead Medicare was intended to avoid another high-profile congressional fight over healthcare reform. Instead, it’s renewed — at least temporarily — the well-worn partisan debate over the government's role in medicine. The White House, with the help of congressional Democrats, had of late begun playing up the tangible benefits of the new law in hopes of picking up votes in November's midterms. But Berwick's appointment to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] — without any formal discussion on Capitol Hill — offers Republicans an opportunity to rehash the...