For Dems, “Best Practices” Means Cutting Medicare

October 9, 2012

For Dems, “Best Practices” Means Cutting Medicare

Obama Defends His Unelected Board of Medicare-Cutting Bureaucrats That Could Leave Seniors Without a Doctor to See

In last week’s debate, Democrats continued their shameful defense of Obama’s unelected board of Medicare-cutting bureaucrats saying that this “group of experts, doctors” will help “identify best practices.”
Apparently, Democrats must think “best practices” includes limiting access to doctors, cutting Medicare benefits and killing the quality of healthcare, since numerous studies show that IPAB will deliver these devastating consequences for the nation’s seniors.
The reality is Democrats have already cut $716 billion from Medicare and want the power to cut even more.

In last week’s debate, Democrats continued their shameful defense of Obama’s unelected board of Medicare-cutting bureaucrats saying that this “group of experts, doctors” will help “identify best practices.”

OBAMA: IPAB IS A GROUP OF “HEALTHCARE EXPERTS, DOCTORS, ETC” THAT FIGURES OUT HOW TO REDUCE HEALTHCARE COSTS: “It — when Governor Romney talks about this board, for example, unelected board that we’ve created, what this is, is a group of health care experts, doctors, et cetera, to figure out, how can we reduce the cost of care in the system overall?” (“Presidential Debate Questions and Transcript, Oct. 3, 2012” Politico, 10/3/2012)

OBAMA: BOARD’S JOB IS TO “IDENTIFY BEST PRACTICES” AND “INSTITUTIONALIZE ALL THESE GOOD THINGS:” “Now, so what this board does is basically identifies best practices and says, let’s use the purchasing power of Medicare and Medicaid to help to institutionalize all these good things that we do.” (“Presidential Debate Questions and Transcript, Oct. 3, 2012” Politico, 10/3/2012)

Apparently, Democrats must think “best practices” includes limiting access to doctors, cutting Medicare benefits and killing the quality of healthcare, since numerous studies show that IPAB will deliver these devastating consequences for the nation’s seniors.

DEMOCRATS EMPOWERED “15 SAGES” WITH “THE POWER OF THE PURSE” TO GUT MEDICARE: (Editorial Board, “The Presidential Divider,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/14/2011)

OBAMA BUDGET: “GIVE IPAB ADDITIONAL TOOLS LIKE THE ABILITY TO CONSIDER VALUE-BASED BENEFIT DESIGN” (READ: BENEFIT CUTS): (“Living Within Our Means and Investing in the Future,” Office of Management and Budget, September 2011)

NOT SUCH A “GOOD THING:” SENIORS COULD SUFFER 26% BENEFIT CUTS OR 47% TAX INCREASES UNDER DEMS’ MEDICARE PLAN: ”Lawmakers could address the long-range financial imbalance in several different ways. In theory, they could immediately increase the standard 2.90-percent payroll tax by the amount of the actuarial deficit to 4.25 percent, or they could reduce expenditures by a corresponding amount. Note, however, that these changes would require an immediate 47-percent increase in the standard tax rate or an immediate 26-percent reduction in expenditures.” (p. 32-33, “2012 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds,” The Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds, 4/23/2012)

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)

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)

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)

DOCTOR AND PATIENT GROUPS: 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 COLLEGE OF SURGEONS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: IPAB WILL “NEGATIVELY IMPACT THE AVAILABILITY OF QUALITY, EFFICIENT HEALTH CARE”: “The Committee’s consideration of H.R. 452 is an important step in preserving Congress’ role in Medicare payment policy. Leaving payment policy decisions in the hands of an unelected, unaccountable governmental body with minimal congressional oversight will negatively impact the availability of quality, efficient health care to Medicare beneficiaries and all Americans.”(David B. Hoyt, Letter to Joe Pitts, House Energy and Commerce Committee, 2/28/2012)

DOCTORS HAVE ALREADY HAD TO STOP TAKING MEDICARE PATIENTS: “ ‘I love taking care of Medicare patients,’ Wertsch told the Capital Times, a progressive paper in Madison. ‘But every time we treat them we have to dig into our wallets. What kind of business model is that?’ Today, Medicare patients represent one-quarter of Wildwood’s practice overall, and as much as 70 percent for some of the clinic’s veterans, like Wertsch. In 2011, Wildwood decided to stop accepting new patients from the Medicare program.” (Avik Roy, “How ObamaCare’s $716 Billion in Cuts Will Drive Doctors Out of Medicare,” Forbes, 8/20/2012)

WSJ: OBAMA MEDICARE PLAN IS MEDICARE “RATIONING,” WILL “THROW GRANNY OVER THE CLIFF”: “One place to start is by attacking the Democratic plan to cut Medicare via political rationing. Mr. Ryan’s budget had the virtue of embarrassing President Obama’s spend-more initial budget, and the White House responded by proposing to increase the power of the new Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) to decide what, and how much, Medicare will pay for. The ObamaCare bill goes to great lengths to shelter this 15-member, unelected board from Congressional review, with the goal of letting these bureaucrats throw granny over the cliff if Medicare isn’t reformed. Yet few Americans know anything about IPAB or its rationing intentions.” (Editorial, “The GOP’s New York Spanking,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/26/2011)

The reality is Democrats have already cut $716 billion from Medicare and want the power to cut even more.

DEMOCRATS RAIDED OVER $700 BILLION FROM MEDICARE TO PAY FOR OBAMACARE: (Douglas Elmendorf, “Letter to the Honorable John Boehner,” Congressional Budget Office, 7/24/2012)

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

“VALUE-BASED BENEFIT DEISGN” WOULD ALLOW IPAB TO EFFECTIVELY RATION HEALTHCARE SERVICES, INTERFERING WITH DOCTORS’ OWN PREFERRED TREATMENTS: “Value-based benefit design may enable IPAB to more effectively target cost sharing for those services that are most likely produce positive patient outcomes while reducing payments for services with less effective outcomes, explained Cori Uccello, the senior health fellow for the American Academy of Actuaries.” (Margaret Dick Tocknell, “IPAB to Kick in Early to Ease Impact of Medicare Cuts,” Health Leaders Media, 9/21/2011)

OBAMA FY2013 BUDGET ALSO VOWS TO BOOST IPAB’S POWER: “In addition, it strengthens the Independent Payment Advisory Board to reduce long-term drivers of Medicare cost growth.” (“Department of Health and Human Services,” The White House, February 2012)

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