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Q&A: Medicare Advisory Panel

Q: What is the Independent Payment Advisory Board?

A: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains a slew of unpopular provisions that will figure prominently on the radar screen of the 114th Congress. Since the passage of wholesale changes to the nation’s health insurance sector limped through Congress on a party-line line vote nearly five years ago, the roll-out of the federal health law has suffered significant self-inflicted setbacks, from the catastrophic online enrollment process to dropped insurance policies, and confusing delays and deferments of employer and individual mandates. The revelations that one of the administration’s key economic architects of the law publicly and repeatedly mocked the “stupidity” of voters exposed an indefensible arrogance and disregard for the American people. On top of all that, the ACA confronts a host of legal issues questioning its constitutionality. In fact, the law’s creation of an unelected 15-member board of federal bureaucrats is just one example of its overreach. The law grants the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) the authority to make additional cuts to the Medicare program starting in 2015, those on top of the $700 billion already carved out of Medicare, based on arbitrary budget targets, specifically, if per capita spending grows faster than the gross domestic product plus one percent. If Medicare spending growth would exceed this formula, 15 individuals appointed by the President would shoulder an extraordinary cost-cutting task with no strings attached. Their assignment to shrink Medicare spending by cutting provider reimbursements inevitably would impact patient care and impair America’s health infrastructure system. There’s no doubt that access to affordable, quality care would be compromised, especially in already underserved areas of rural America. Taxpayers pour hundreds of billions of dollars every year into this health insurance program that America’s older and most vulnerable citizens have come to rely upon for the last four decades. Handing even an inch of the purse strings over to an unelected board of bureaucrats without full transparency and accountability to America’s seniors and their elected officials is no way to run the people’s business.

Q: What can Congress do to fix this ill-advised provision of the Affordable Care Act?

A: Although some argue that Medicare’s current spending growth nullifies the need to repeal the provision creating the advisory board, these critics ignore a fundamental flaw of the law. The Independent Payment Advisory Board disenfranchises the people who pay for Medicare, get paid by Medicare and receive services through Medicare. Out of the blue, IPAB becomes a gatekeeper with no accountability to the public. That’s why I’m taking the lead with my Senate colleagues to advance “The Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act” as one of the first bills introduced this Congress. Simply, the bill would repeal the creation of this unelected, unaccountable board of advisors. It’s wrong to take decision-making authority away from elected representatives of the people and hand it over to political appointees, especially when it involves the health and well-being of individual Americans. The ACA already has thrown a wrench into the U.S. work week and the workplace, bringing significant uncertainty to small businesses and their employees as employers struggle to meet compliance with countless new federal regulations, stay profitable, make payroll, pay for benefits or face the uncertainty of IRS penalties. Too many Americans have experienced costly consequences of this partisan overhaul of America’s health insurance system. Many insured by employer-based plans are seeing out-of-pocket costs skyrocket with no end in sight. The uninsured soon will face penalties for choosing not to buy health insurance. The new Congress has an opportunity and an obligation to the taxpaying public to tackle this unfair and overreaching law.

Q&A: Medicare Advisory Panel

Q: What is the Independent Payment Advisory Board?

A: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains a slew of unpopular provisions that will figure prominently on the radar screen of the 114th Congress. Since the passage of wholesale changes to the nation’s health insurance sector limped through Congress on a party-line line vote nearly five years ago, the roll-out of the federal health law has suffered significant self-inflicted setbacks, from the catastrophic online enrollment process to dropped insurance policies, and confusing delays and deferments of employer and individual mandates. The revelations that one of the administration’s key economic architects of the law publicly and repeatedly mocked the “stupidity” of voters exposed an indefensible arrogance and disregard for the American people. On top of all that, the ACA confronts a host of legal issues questioning its constitutionality. In fact, the law’s creation of an unelected 15-member board of federal bureaucrats is just one example of its overreach. The law grants the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) the authority to make additional cuts to the Medicare program starting in 2015, those on top of the $700 billion already carved out of Medicare, based on arbitrary budget targets, specifically, if per capita spending grows faster than the gross domestic product plus one percent. If Medicare spending growth would exceed this formula, 15 individuals appointed by the President would shoulder an extraordinary cost-cutting task with no strings attached. Their assignment to shrink Medicare spending by cutting provider reimbursements inevitably would impact patient care and impair America’s health infrastructure system. There’s no doubt that access to affordable, quality care would be compromised, especially in already underserved areas of rural America. Taxpayers pour hundreds of billions of dollars every year into this health insurance program that America’s older and most vulnerable citizens have come to rely upon for the last four decades. Handing even an inch of the purse strings over to an unelected board of bureaucrats without full transparency and accountability to America’s seniors and their elected officials is no way to run the people’s business.

Q: What can Congress do to fix this ill-advised provision of the Affordable Care Act?

A: Although some argue that Medicare’s current spending growth nullifies the need to repeal the provision creating the advisory board, these critics ignore a fundamental flaw of the law. The Independent Payment Advisory Board disenfranchises the people who pay for Medicare, get paid by Medicare and receive services through Medicare. Out of the blue, IPAB becomes a gatekeeper with no accountability to the public. That’s why I’m taking the lead with my Senate colleagues to advance “The Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act” as one of the first bills introduced this Congress. Simply, the bill would repeal the creation of this unelected, unaccountable board of advisors. It’s wrong to take decision-making authority away from elected representatives of the people and hand it over to political appointees, especially when it involves the health and well-being of individual Americans. The ACA already has thrown a wrench into the U.S. work week and the workplace, bringing significant uncertainty to small businesses and their employees as employers struggle to meet compliance with countless new federal regulations, stay profitable, make payroll, pay for benefits or face the uncertainty of IRS penalties. Too many Americans have experienced costly consequences of this partisan overhaul of America’s health insurance system. Many insured by employer-based plans are seeing out-of-pocket costs skyrocket with no end in sight. The uninsured soon will face penalties for choosing not to buy health insurance. The new Congress has an opportunity and an obligation to the taxpaying public to tackle this unfair and overreaching law.