Obama to nominate Indian American as surgeon general
Murthy is a hospitalist at the Brigham and is co-founder and president of Doctors for America, a Washington, DC-based group of 16,000 physicians and medical students that advocates for access to affordable, high quality health care.
If confirmed by the Senate, Murthy will replace Regina Benjamin, who was appointed by Obama in 2009 and left her post last summer. The job focuses heavily on public health issues.
Murthy was appointed to the President's Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health in 2011. The prevention group was created as part of the Affordable Care Act health reform law.
His group, Doctors for America, was originally called Doctors for Obama and helped to campaign for Obama's election.
Murthy, co-founded VISIONS Worldwide in 1995, a non-profit organization focused on HIV/AIDS education in India and the United States, where he served as President from 1995 to 2000 and Chairman of the Board from 2000 to 2003.
Murthy received a BA from Harvard University, an MBA from Yale School of Management, and an MD from Yale School of Medicine.
"I am confident that these outstanding individuals will greatly serve the American people in their new roles and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come," Obama said in announcing Murthy's appointment along with three other key posts.
The announcement came shortly after Obama acknowledging that his administration "fumbled" in the troubled rollout of his healthcare law, offering a fix that would allow insurers to keep for another year people on plans that were to be cancelled for not meeting minimum standards under the new law.
In the midst of mounting criticism of the troubled healthcare website, former President Bill Clinton had on Tuesday suggested that Obama should make sure Americans can retain their current health insurance plans, even if it means revamping the Affordable Care Act.
"I
personally
believe,
even
if
it
takes
a
change
to
the
law,
the
president
should
honour
the
commitment
the
federal
government
made
to
those
people
and
let
them
keep
what
they've
got,"
Clinton
told
OZY,
a
news
website.
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