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Berwick Mulls Run For Mass. Governor, State House News Reports

Dr. Donald Berwick

Think incumbent Gov. Deval Patrick is intensely oriented toward health care? Could be you ain't seen nothing yet. State House News Service reports that Dr. Don Berwick, a national leader on improving the health care system, and the Obama administration's former chief of Medicare, is considering a run for governor to succeed Patrick. From State House News:

Dr. Donald Berwick, a Boston-based pediatrician and former Obama administration health care official, is giving serious consideration to running for governor as a Democrat in 2014, injecting himself into a conversation limited so far to two statewide officeholders.

Berwick, who served for a year and a half as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services before resigning in the face of Republican opposition to his permanent confirmation, has been talking with family, friends, civic and business leaders about a possible run.

He met privately on Monday with Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray in his State House office to inform the Democrat of his plans, and has also spoken with state Democratic Party officials.

"That's correct. I'm strongly considering it," Berwick confirmed to the News Service on Tuesday.

Berwick joins Murray and Treasurer Steven Grossman among those giving serious thought to a run for governor in 2014 when Gov. Deval Patrick plans to leave office at the end of the second term.

Readers, should he run? Why or why not?

This program aired on January 8, 2013. The audio for this program is not available.

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Carey Goldberg Editor, CommonHealth
Carey Goldberg is the editor of WBUR's CommonHealth section.

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