Sebelius takes to the Hill to defend IPAB

During a Capitol Hill hearing, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius criticized the House-passed budget plan and its Medicare provisions and also defended the potential effectiveness and constitutionality of the health law's Independent Payment Advisory Board. White House Deputy Chief Of Staff Nancy-Ann DeParle offered an additional defense while speaking before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Meanwhile, the IPAB concept still triggers concern well beyond the beltway.

CQ HealthBeat: Sebelius And Republicans Exchange Criticisms Of Each Other's Health Care Proposals
House Budget Committee Republicans sparred Tuesday with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over an independent Medicare cost-cutting board, the Democrats' health care law and the House GOP budget proposal. While testifying before a committee hearing, Sebelius criticized the Medicare proposal in the House-passed budget as a plan to shift health care costs from the government onto seniors and people with disabilities, while Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., said the 2010 health care law overreached (Adams, 7/12).

Modern Healthcare: Sebelius Underscores Limits Of IPAB
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and a panel of policy analysts testified before the House Budget Committee Tuesday to discuss the purpose, potential effectiveness and even the constitutionality of the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Authorized in the health care reform law, the IPAB is a still-unnamed board of 15 non-elected officials tasked with recommending to Congress ways to reduce Medicare spending. Republicans said that unless a supermajority in Congress overturns the IPAB's suggestions, then the panel's recommendations — including reimbursement cuts — would become law. But Sebelius asserted that the IPAB is just a "backstop mechanism" and that Congress still has the power to make final decisions (Zigmond, 7/12).

Politico Pro: DeParle Says IPAB Attacks Are 'Just Politics'
White House deputy chief of staff Nancy-Ann DeParle defended IPAB on Tuesday, saying the board is needed to force Congress to cut costs rather than stalling on ideas. "The same people who told you that health care reform would kill grandma are saying that the IPAB will ration care and kill Medicare," she said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on health care costs. "And that part of it's just politics. The reality is a little more boring" (Feder, 7/12).

Minnesota Public Radio: Oversight Board Has Minn. Health Care Professionals Worried
When the proposal for the advisory board first surfaced during the federal health care law, a number of the Minnesota's doctors were open to the concept, said Dave Renner of the Minnesota Medical Association. ... Welcome changed to worry when details of how the board would work were revealed, Renner said. The board couldn't touch most hospital payments for several years, or scale back Medicare coverage. However, payments to doctors got no such protections (Stawicki, 7/13).