Cornyn, Hatch Renew Efforts to Give Consumers More Control in Health Care Decisions

Press Release

U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) today reintroduced a bill, The Health Care Bureaucrats Elimination Act, cosponsored by Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS), John McCain (R-AZ), Tom Coburn (R-OK), John Barrasso (R-WY), Richard Burr (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), James Inhofe (R-OK), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and John Thune (R-SD) to remove unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats from American seniors' personal health decisions by repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).

Senator Cornyn said, "In true fashion of Obamacare, the IPAB is the definition of a government takeover. America's seniors deserve the ability to hold elected officials accountable for the decisions that affect their Medicare, but IPAB would take that away from seniors and put power in the hands of politically-appointed Washington bureaucrats. This bill to repeal IPAB is just one step towards starting over with real health care reform that empowers patients instead of beltway bureaucrats."

Senator Hatch said, "Instead of giving patients more choice and access to quality care, the misguided $2.6 trillion health law gives unprecedented power to unelected Washington bureaucrats with no accountability to the American people. The most effective way to provide health care is to put doctors and patients in charge of their health care decisions. And the best way to rebuild the public's trust is to make government more responsive to the people we represent. That's exactly what this legislation does."

Senator Roberts said, "The IPAB is one of the greatest unintended consequences of Obamacare," Roberts said. "In an effort to depoliticize decision making for Medicare, the IPAB actually places politics and cost cutting at the heart of decisions best made between a doctor and a patient. This board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats will make decisions that will affect every American's access to quality health care."

Senator McCain said, "The IPAB is another one of the many flawed provisions in the health reform law that empowers government rather than patients and their doctors and it must be repealed along with the entire law," said Senator John McCain. "The IPAB will steer our health care toward a European-style system where government bureaucrats' decisions are put before medical care decisions that should only be between patients and their doctors. "

After taking $528 billion from the nearly bankrupt Medicare program to create a $2.6 trillion new entitlement, the new health care law created an unelected, unaccountable board of bureaucrats to make additional cuts to the Medicare program based on arbitrary global budget targets. The IPAB would empower 15 bureaucrats to make substantial changes to Medicare--without full transparency and accountability to America's seniors and their elected officials. Additionally, Senators Cornyn, Hatch, and other co-sponsors of the bill note several other issues with IPAB, which include:

* Product of Politics: While the designers of IPAB contend it will depoliticize the Medicare payment process, the IPAB's very charter is the product of politics. During the passage of the new health care law, special interest groups cut deals with Democrats to specifically exempt certain providers under IPAB. Additionally, IPAB takes decision-making authority from elected officials and gives it to the President's political appointees.

* Shirked Responsibility: While IPAB was sold as a mechanism to address entitlement spending, the reality is that IPAB allowed Congress to punt to an unaccountable board the responsibility of fully paying for a massive new entitlement program. The history of the approximately $370 billion Sustainable Growth Rate problem has shown that punting budget problems down the road only makes them worse for patients, providers, and taxpayers.

* Jeopardized Access: IPAB has raised significant concerns among a diverse group of health care provider groups. 75 provider groups sent a letter stating their opposition to IPAB stating, "The IPAB reductions would be in addition to the…savings in provider payments already included in health care reform legislation, which could jeopardize both access for Medicare beneficiaries and even infrastructure for the entire health care system."

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