Opposing view: Repeal Medicare board

The health care reform law signed by President Obama last year was based on three interrelated tenets: expanding access to coverage; strengthening quality and innovation; and demanding greater efficiency and effectiveness. Together, these efforts will improve patient outcomes and reduce the rate of growth in health care spending.

The potential for savings is significant. The law will reduce the deficit by $210 billion over 10 years and $1 trillion over 20 years. And that’s just the beginning.

But the new law is not perfect. It established an Independent Payment Advisory Board — known by the acronym IPAB — a group of 15 people appointed by the president and charged with curtailing the rate of growth and spending under Medicare, solely through changes to provider reimbursements.

We all agree that Medicare costs must be contained and that the payment system is flawed and needs to be replaced. But simply cutting reimbursements is not the answer. IPAB brings unpredictability and uncertainty to providers and has the potential for stifling innovation and collaboration.

The threat of reduced payments is the least imaginative option and most unlikely to result in the kind of heath care we know seniors and all Americans deserve.

We have a choice: Reduce costs through improved delivery of care or simply leave it to this new board to cut payments.

I am opposed to the board because we have the knowledge and the will to achieve cost savings in Medicare the right way.

Numerous patient and consumer organizations agree. The National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Committee to Preserve Medicare and Social Security, AIDS Institute, Easter Seals, and National Minority Quality Forum all oppose IPAB, to name just a few.

As a result of health care reform, doctors, nurses, hospitals and long-term care facilities across the country are innovating to reduce errors, eliminate duplication and waste, use technology to safely share information, and coordinate care between practitioners and settings.

Medicare spending accounts for 20% of all health care expenditures, and with Baby Boomers turning 65, Medicare costs will grow. The health reform law is ensuring seniors get the care they need by changing payment incentives to improve quality and reduce costs. It saves dollars and saves lives.
For seniors, today and tomorrow, and for all Americans to have access to the care they deserve at a cost we can afford, we have to fight for it.

We should repeal IPAB.