Options for 'super committee' could include IPAB, Tricare, nothing at all

The Hill: Roe: Super Committee Should Ax IPAB
Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) said Thursday that the deficit-cutting super committee should repeal one of the healthcare reform law's chief cost-control measures. Roe is a leading opponent of the Independent Payments Advisory Board (IPAB), a 15-member board with the power to cut Medicare payments almost unilaterally. The board will recommend payment cuts that take effect unless Congress votes to stop them (Baker, 9/1).

Bloomberg Businessweek: The Pentagon's Feverish Health-Care Tab
With a congressional supercommittee hunting for as much as $1.5 trillion in future budget savings, the Pentagon's health insurance program, known as Tricare, may be a target for reductions. Tricare covers 9.6 million people ...There are minimal or no annual deductibles or co-payments for treatment. ... Annual premiums for working-age retirees have been frozen since 1995 (Ivory, 9/1).

KHN's news blog, Capsules: The 'Super Committee' And The Devil You Know
Health care groups, nervous about the debt deal's "super committee" deliberations that begin next week, are likely to fare far better under a series of automatic cuts than any agreement the panel may reach. At least that's the opinion of Washington insider Christopher Jennings, a former Clinton administration health care adviser (Carey, 9/1).