IPAB Still Has a Friend in Democrats

Opposition to Dems’ Board of Unelected and Unaccountable Medicare-Cutting Bureaucrats Grows as Facts Come Out

• The Obama administration and top Democrats are doubling down on their support for the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) that they created under the government healthcare takeover and charged with cutting Medicare, while the board is now as unpopular as ever.
• It’s not hard to see why, given that IPAB is a board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats empowered to make healthcare decisions best left to your doctor.
• IPAB would likely cut reimbursement payments to healthcare providers, something being done now in Medicaid which threatens Medicaid patients’ access to care. By ignoring the lessons learned from Medicaid, Democrats are undermining Medicare and endangering seniors’ access to care.

BACKGROUND:

Although the Obama administration and top Democrats are doubling down on their support for the Independent Payment Advisory Board that they created under the government healthcare takeover and charged with cutting Medicare, the board is as unpopular as ever. And the opposition is coming from both Democrats and Republicans:

HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS OP-ED “IPAB WILL PROTECT MEDICARE.” (Kathleen Sebelius, “IPAB Will Protect Medicare,” Politico, 6/23/2011)

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): “Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who sits on the Budget Committee, said IPAB is ‘an important tool in the toolbox.'”(Jennifer Haberkorn, “Democrats Split on Independent Payment Advisory Board,” Politico, 7/10/20111)

EIGHTH DEMOCRAT SIGNS ON TO REPEAL IPAB: “Virgin Islands non-voting Del. Donna Christian-Christensen became the eighth congressional Democrat to oppose President Obama on the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) on Monday.” (Matthew Boyle, “Eighth Democrat Signs On To ObamaCare Medicare Board Repeal Legislation,” The Daily Caller, 7/11/2011)

“DEMOCRATS SPLIT ON INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD”: “For the past year, Democrats have been mostly united on health care issues, especially in the face of Republican efforts to repeal President Barack Obama’s landmark law. But this week, House Republicans plan to fire their opening salvos against the Independent Payment Advisory Board — an issue on which Democrats are far from united. …

“But some Democrats, as well as most Republicans and health care providers, argue the panel could arbitrarily cut services to Medicare patients and payments to providers with little congressional oversight.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Democrats Split on Independent Payment Advisory Board,” Politico, 7/10/20111)

It’s not hard to see why, given that Obama-Pelosi Medicare plan empowers a board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats to make healthcare decisions best left to your doctor. These bureaucrats wouldn’t even need a medical degree to make decisions about patient care, but they would be paid hefty six-figure salaries:

FORMER HOUSE DEMOCRAT LEADER DICK GEPHARDT: “UNELECTED AND UNACCOUNTABLE” IPAB WILL “PROPOSE CUTS TO MEDICARE,” WITH “DEVASTATING” CONSEQUENCES: “Under the current law, IPAB will be an unelected and unaccountable group whose sole charge is to reduce Medicare spending based on an arbitrary target growth rate. … Just as important, these cuts are likely to have devastating consequences for the seniors and disabled Americans who are Medicare’s beneficiaries because, while technically forbidden from rationing care, the Board will be able to set payment rates for some treatments so low that no doctor or hospital or other healthcare professional would provide them.” (Dick Gephardt, “Medicare Must Remain a Responsibility of Congress,” The Huffington Post, 6/21/2011)

BUREAUCRAT BOARD MADE EVEN STRONGER THAN UNDER GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER: “The president, for his part, answered Ryan’s budget by proposing an even stronger version of the board than the health reform law created.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Medicare Pay Board Is Losing Vital Support,” Politico, 6/8/2011)
NOT A DOCTOR? DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT: “The appointment membership of the board shall include (but shall not be limited to) physicians and other health professionals, experts in the area of pharmaco-economics or prescription drug benefit programs, employers, third-party payers, individuals skilled in the conduct and interpretation of biomedical, health services, and health economics research and expertise in outcomes and effectiveness research and technology assessment. Such membership shall also include representatives of consumers and the elderly.” (p. 402, “Sec.3403. Independent [Medicare] Payment Advisory Board,” Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 5/3/2010)

IPAB MEMBERS CAN SERVE UP TO TWELVE YEARS, OR TWO SIX YEAR TERMS, WITHOUT EVER FACING VOTERS: “Terms are for six years, and members may serve no more than two consecutive terms.” (Jack Ebeler, Tricia Neuman, and Juliette Cubanski, “The Independent Payment Advisory Board: A New Approach to Controlling Medicare Spending,” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2011)

ALL WHILE RECEIVING A TAX-PAYER FUNDED SALARY OF $165,300/YEAR:“IPAB members are paid at a rate prescribed for level III of the Executive Schedule, which is $165,300 in 2011.” (Jack Ebeler, Tricia Neuman, and Juliette Cubanski, “The Independent Payment Advisory Board: A New Approach to Controlling Medicare Spending,” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2011)

We’ve already seen how cutting reimbursement payments to healthcare providers—the main tool in IPAB’s toolbox—threatens patients’ access to care under Medicaid. By deliberately ignoring that lesson, the Obama-Pelosi Medicare plan undermines the program and endangers access to care for seniors on Medicare. Will Democrat leaders abandon their unelected and unaccountable Medicare-cutting board before it’s too late?:

CHILDREN WITH MEDICAID FACE LIMITED ACCESS TO CARE DUE TO PROVIDER REIMBURSEMENT CUTS: “Children with Medicaid are far more likely than those with private insurance to be turned away by medical specialists or be made to wait more than a month for an appointment, even for serious medical problems, a new study finds.

“Lower payments by Medicaid, delays in paying and red tape are largely to blame, researchers say. …

“Sixty-six percent of those who mentioned Medicaid-CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) were denied appointments, compared with 11 percent who said they had private insurance, according to an article being published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“In 89 clinics that accepted both kinds of patients, the waiting time for callers who said they had Medicaid was an average of 22 days longer.” (Denise Grady, “Children on Medicaid Shown to Wait Longer on Care,” The New York Times, 6/15/2011)

“AS NUMBER OF MEDICAID PATIENTS GOES UP, THEIR BENEFITS ARE ABOUT TO DROP”: “The Obama administration injected billions of dollars into Medicaid, the nation’s low-income health program, as the recession deepened two years ago. The money runs out at the end of this month, and benefits are being cut for millions of people, even though unemployment has increased. … To hold down costs, states are cutting Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals, limiting benefits for Medicaid recipients, reducing the scope of covered services, requiring beneficiaries to pay larger co-payments and expanding the use of managed care.” (Robert Pear, “As Number of Medicaid Patients Goes Up, Their Benefits Are About to Drop,” The New York Times, 6/15/2011)