Text VICTORY to 21818 to help DEFEND our conservative majority!

Dems’ Medicare Gutting Board Keeps Making New Enemies

March 6, 2012

Healthcare Providers and Advocates – and Even Some Democrats – Are Signing On to Repeal the Medicare-Gutting Board Created Under ObamaCare

  • President Obama’s budget unveiled last month doubled down on the Democrats’ plan to gut Medicare by further empowering the Independent Payment Advisory Board the Democrats created under ObamaCare.
  • The Democrats’ insistence on gutting Medicare is raising the ire of healthcare advocates and providers who worry that the panel of unaccountable and unelected bureaucrats may threaten patients’ access to care with their cuts.
  • Even some Democrats have expressed concerns about the IPAB’s authority and potential to decimate Medicare, yet top Democrats continue to double down on their plan to gut Medicare.

President Obama’s budget unveiled last month doubled down on the Democrats’ plan to gut Medicare by further empowering the Independent Payment Advisory Board the Democrats created under ObamaCare:

HOUSE WAYS & MEANS TO HOLD HEARING ON IPAB TUESDAY MORNING:(Press Release, “Chairman Wally Herger Announces Hearing on the Independent Payment Advisory Board,” Committee on Ways and Means, 3/6/2012)

“OBAMA BUDGET WANTS MORE TEETH” FOR IPAB: (Phillip Klein, “Obama Budget Wants More Teeth for Medicare Board,” The Washington Examiner, 2/13/2012)

OBAMA BUDGET CLAIMS IT “STRENGTHENS THE INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD”: “In addition, it strengthens the Independent Payment Advisory Board to reduce long-term drivers of Medicare cost growth.” (p. 112, “The Budget for Fiscal Year 2013: Department of Health and Human Services,” The White House, 2/13/2012)

The Democrats’ insistence on gutting Medicare is raising the ire of healthcare advocates and providers who worry that the panel of unaccountable and unelected bureaucrats may threaten patients’ access to care with their cuts:

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION CALLS FOR REPEAL OF IPAB: “On behalf of the physician and medical student members of the American Medical Association (AMA), I am writing to express our strong support for H.R. 452, which was introduced by Representative Phil Roe, and would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).  Accordingly, we strongly support the advancement of this important legislation through the Energy and Commerce Committee.” (James L. Madera, Letter to Rep. Joe Pitts, American Medical Association, 2/27/2012)

AMA: IPAB’S “FORMULAIC CUTS… WOULD BE DETRIMENTAL TO PATIENT CARE”: “The AMA has consistently expressed its opposition to the IPAB on several grounds.  The IPAB puts important health care payment and policy decisions in the hands of an independent body that has far too little accountability.  Major changes in the Medicare program should be decided by elected officials.  We have already seen first-hand the ill effects of the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) physician target and the steep Medicare cuts that Congress has had to scramble each year to avoid, along with the significantly increasing price tag of a long-term SGR solution.  Adding additional formulaic cuts through IPAB is just not rational and would be detrimental to patient care, especially as millions of baby boomers enter Medicare.” (James L. Madera, Letter to Rep. Joe Pitts, American Medical Association, 2/27/2012)

AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION OPPOSED DEMOCRATS’ EXPANSION OF IPAB AUTHORITY: “The president also expands the role of IPAB. America’s hospitals support the repeal of IPAB, because its existence permanently removes Congress from the decision-making process, and threatens the important dialogue between hospitals and their elected officials about the real health care needs of their communities. Expanding IPAB adds to that problem.” (American Hospital Association, “Health Care Entitlements: The Road Forward,”U.S. Senate Committee on Finance,  6/23/2011)

Even some Democrats have expressed concerns about the IPAB’s authority and potential to decimate Medicare, yet top Democrats continue to double down on their plan to gut Medicare:

GOP BILL TO REPEAL IPAB HAS 17 DEMOCRAT CO-SPONSORS: (“Cosponsors,” H.R. 452, Clerk of the U.S. House, Accessed 3/5/2012) 

REP. SCHWARTZ SAYS OBAMA’S MEDICARE BOARD WILL “CUT PAYMENTS” AND SHOULD BE REPEALED: “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.” (Rep. Allyson Schwartz, “Opposing View: Repeal Medicare Board,” USA Today, 5/23/2011)

REP. PETER STARK (D-CA): IPAB IS A “MINDLESS-RATE CUTTING MACHINE THAT SETS THE PROGRAM UP FOR UNSUSTAINABLE CUTS”: “I oppose the inclusion the Independent Payment Advisory Commission, called IPAB.  Some of my colleagues support this Commission because it shields them from having to take tough votes when it comes to cutting Medicare provider payments. It’s my experience that Congress always does what is needed to protect and strengthen the Medicare program.  IPAB is a dangerous provision.   By statute, this Commission would be required to hold Medicare spending to an arbitrary and unrealistic growth rate.  It is a mindless-rate cutting machine that sets the program up for unsustainable cuts. That will endanger the health of America’s seniors and people with disabilities.  It is an unprecedented abrogation of  Congressional authority to an unelected, unaccountable body of so-called experts.  I intend to work tirelessly to mitigate the damage that will be caused by IPAB.” (“Statement of Congressman Pete Stark Supporting Health Care Reform,” Office of Rep. Pete Stark, 3/21/2011)

FORMER REP. RON KLINK (D-PA) SAYS IPAB “IS DEMOCRATS’ ACHILLES’ HEEL,” WILL “GUT MEDICARE”: (Ron Klink, “IPAB Is Democrats’ Achilles’ Heel,” The Hill, 6/15/2011)

LEFT-WING GROUP: “IPAB TURNS MEDICARE INTO A SCAPEGOAT”: “The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a prominent supporter of the law, is now actively lobbying for its repeal, too. …

“For more than a year, the National Committee and other supporters of the reform law who didn’t like the IPAB were willing to put up with it for the greater good of the law. But in recent weeks, that support has waned.

“‘IPAB turns Medicare into a scapegoat,’ said Max Richtman, executive vice president and acting CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. ‘Medicare will be forced to make reductions without addressing the rest of the health care costs.’” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Medicare Pay Board Is Losing Vital Support,” Politico, 6/8/2011)