Doctor and Patient Groups Plead with Dems Not to Gut Medicare

March 19, 2012

A Broad Coalition of Doctors and Patient Advocates Is Begging Democrats’ to Abandon their Medicare-Gutting Board Created Under ObamaCare

The House will vote this week to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats empowered under ObamaCare to gut Medicare.
The vote to repeal IPAB comes after pleas by doctors and patient advocates that the Democrats’ Medicare-gutting board will prove disastrous to patient health, limit access to care and undermine Medicare.
Despite the broad opposition to IPAB, top Democrats want to give it even more power.

The House will vote this week to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats empowered under ObamaCare to gut Medicare:

HOUSE TO VOTE ON IPAB REPEAL THIS WEEK: “House Republicans have set up a vote next week to repeal a board created by the 2010 healthcare law that the GOP has criticized as a rationing board that could force Medicare cuts without congressional approval.” (Pete Kasperowicz, “House to Vote on Health Board Repeal,” The Hill, 3/16/2012)

The vote to repeal IPAB comes after pleas by doctors and patient advocates that the Democrats’ Medicare-gutting board will prove disastrous to patient health, limit access to care and undermine Medicare

AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION: CONCERNS THAT “QUALITY CARE FOR OUR PARENTS WILL BE JEOPARDIZED”: “We are concerned that, by removing Congressional authority over the Medicare payment system and placing such unprecedented authority in an unelected body, quality care for our patients will be jeopardized. We are equally concerned with the potential that physicians may be subjected to a double jeopardy in Medicare payments if IPAB cuts are coupled with those projected under the current sustainable growth rate (SGR). The current instability and inequities in Medicare physician payments is hindering access to care for millions of Medicare beneficiaries. IPAB would only exacerbate this problem.” (Martin S. Levine, American Osteopathic Association, Letter to House Energy & Commerce Committee, 2/28/2012)

12,000 DOCTORS OF AMERICAN PODIATRIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: IPAB WILL “SEVERELY LIMIT MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES’ ACCESS TO CARE” AND “INCREASE HEALTH-CARE COSTS”:“[Our] members believe that the ill-conceived Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) contained in the Affordable Care Act will not only severely limit Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care but also increase health-care costs that are shifted onto the private sector.” (Michael J. King, American Podiatric Medical Association,” Letter to House Energy & Commerce Committee, 2/28/2012)

MORE: “EQUALLY TROUBLING IS THE FACT THAT THERE IS ONLY A MINORITY OF PHYSICIAN REPRESENTATION”: “Equally troubling is the fact that there is only a minority of physician representation on the board and that the IPAB is not required to hold public meetings where the voices of patients, caregivers and other health‐care stakeholders can be heard.” (Michael J. King, American Podiatric Medical Association,” Letter to House Energy & Commerce Committee, 2/28/2012)

IPAB’S CUTS “WOULD LEAD TO A REDUCTION IN ACCESS TO CARE”: “The Independent Payment Advisory Board, created under the health care law to help control Medicare costs, lacks flexibility to do much more than cut provider payments that would lead to a reduction in access to care, witnesses told a House Ways and Means panel March 6.” (Ralph Lindeman, “IPAB Would Reduce Access to Care, Witnesses Tell Ways and Means Panel,” Bloomberg, 3/7/2012)

AMERICAN UROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION: DOCTORS WILL “OPT OUT OF THE MEDICARE PROGRAM OR BE DRIVEN OUT OF PRACTICE ALTOGETHER”: “He warned, ‘These cuts could be driven so low that physicians will be forced to limit the number of Medicare beneficiaries they see, opt out of the Medicare program, or be driven out of practice altogether.'” (Ralph Lindeman, “IPAB Would Reduce Access to Care, Witnesses Tell Ways and Means Panel,” Bloomberg, 3/7/2012)

“ESSENTIALLY, IPAB TAKES THE DUTY OF CUTTING MEDICARE OUT OF CONGRESS’ HANDS”: (Kate Pickert, “On Health Care and Deficit, Obama Punts (Mostly) and Invites a GOP Fight,” Time, 4/13/2011)

DESPERATE DEMS CLAIM OBAMACARE GETTING MORE POPULAR: HOYER SAID “CITIZENS ARE COMING” TO “SEE THE BENEFITS” OF THEIR GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER: “But I think there’s very, very strong support in the Democratic Party, and I believe that citizens are coming to that more and more as they see the benefits of that accruing to seniors in terms of their prescription-drug bill being reduced.” (Jessica Brady, “Democrats Willing to Tinker with Health Care Law,” Roll Call, 3/7/2012)

Despite the broad opposition to IPAB, top Democrats want to give it even more power:

WHITE HOUSE IS WHIPPING AGAINST IPAB REPEAL: “Democratic sources said Tuesday that White House aides were reaching out to Members to keep them from peeling off when the measure comes to a vote on the floor. Democratic House leaders rigorously whipped colleagues against voting for the GOP’s full health care repeal last year, but they have not done the same for the more targeted repeal measures that have come forward.” (Jessica Brady, “Democrats Willing to Tinker with Health Care Law,” Roll Call, 3/7/2012)

“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)

OBAMA’S HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS REFERRED TO IPAB AS “A KEY PART OF THE PRESIDENT’S PLAN”: (Kathleen Sebelius, “IPAB Will Protect Medicare,” Politico, 6/23/2011)