(Alexandria, VA) -- 21 leading free market, conservative, organizations have sent a joint letter to Congress advocating repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), the bureaucratic spear-point of the Affordable Care Act.
The groups are critical of IPAB’s unaccountability and potential for heavy-handed policies. They specifically advocate passage of H.R. 351, the “Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act”, and highlighted three unique problems posed by IPAB:
1) To keep Medicare costs down, the board would implement measures that amount to price controls – shifting costs to non-exempt providers inside Medicare and beneficiaries outside Medicare, all while costing consumers.
2) IPAB will be focused on cost savings whose “scoring windows are narrow”, meaning it will prioritize short-term savings and ignore better reforms that would take longer to save taxpayers money.
3) Congress is abdicating its responsibility to patients, taxpayers, and citizens, putting the burden of unpopular decisions about citizens’ healthcare on an unelected, opaque, board of bureaucrats.
The coalition letter was organized by the National Taxpayers Union, and signed by its Executive Vice President Pete Sepp. Other organizations signing on include 60 Plus Association, American Commitment, Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Competitive Enterprise Institute, ConservativeHQ.com, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, Family Research Council, GOProud, Hispanic Leadership Fund, Independent Women’s Voice, Less Government, The National Center for Public Policy Research, Partnership for America, The Seniors Coalition, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, and Tea Party Nation.
H.R. 351 was introduced by Rep. David Roe (R-TN) and has already gained 100 cosponsors.