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270 healthcare groups back IPAB repeal
A broad coalition of healthcare stakeholders lent their support Friday to repealing a controversial cost-cutting panel established under healthcare reform.
All told, some 270 stakeholder groups signed a letter to members of Congress urging them to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB is a panel of experts, appointed by the president, that will have the power to cut Medicare payments.
The organizations represent doctors, other healthcare providers, employers, drug and medical device manufacturers and some disease-specific advocates — in short, a robust cross-section of the groups that stand to lose as a new and powerful body looks for Medicare savings.
"While we all recognize the need for more sustainable healthcare costs, we do not believe the IPAB is the way to, or will, accomplish this goal," the organizations wrote.
"We believe that the IPAB sets a dangerous precedent for overriding the normal legislative process," the opponents wrote. "Congress is a representative body that has a duty to legislate on issues of public policy. Abdicating this responsibility to an unelected and unaccountable board removes our elected officials from the decision-making process for a program that millions of our nation’s seniors and disabled individuals rely upon."
Congressional Republicans are stepping up their criticism of the IPAB, a measure that even many Democrats would have preferred to ax from healthcare reform. GOP doctors held a press conference on the panel last week, charging that it will kill seniors, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee is planning a hearing on the panel for next month.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius defended the IPAB on Friday. Many health are wonks, including former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and former White House budget director Peter Orszag, have said the IPAB or something like it is among the best ways to control skyrocketing healthcare costs.
