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A Chance to Repeal Obamacare’s
Independent Payment Advisory Board
July 20th, 2017
One of the worst provisions of Obamacare is the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This was the infamous “death panel” that fostered inflammatory debate before Obamacare was voted into law. While the debate on the Republican’s health care reform continues in the Senate the onerous tenets of Obamacare continue in force and still threaten us. Until health care reform is passed, Americans will still be burdened with soaring insurance premiums and dwindling options as insurance companies continue to pull out of county after county. However, amid all this waiting, there is one part of Obamacare that can be repealed right now… the IPAB.
This unelected, unrestrained, bureaucratic board has the power to cut Medicare payments without the restraints of congress or even the judicial arm of the government. Not only will it take a blunt instrument approach to Medicare cuts, it sets a dangerous precedent that cuts to the very balance of power of our Constitution.
Thankfully, there is bipartisan support to remove this board once and for all. H.R. 849, the “Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act of 2017,” introduced by Representative Phil Roe [MD] has 242 co-sponsors; 200 Republicans and 42 Democrats. Also, there are two companion bills in the Senate, S 260, introduced by Sen. John Cornyn [R-TX], which has 36 Republican co-sponsors and S 251, introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden [D-OR], which has 12 Democratic co-sponsors. The Senate bills differ slightly but both seek to terminate the IPAB. As you can see, there is bipartisan support to remove this “death panel”.
RetireSafe supports these efforts to terminate the IPAB. These bills represent some of the few examples of bipartisan cooperation and have a real chance of being passed. We spoke out strongly seven years ago about how bad this idea was and will continue to work to get the legislation passed to stop the IPAB.