IPAB under attack from all sides

From the left, fears persist that this independent payment advisory board will make the Medicare program a cost-control scapegoat. On the right, opponents say the panel will lead to health care rationing and usurp congressional authority.

The Fiscal Times: Medicare Cost Control: A Panel of Paper Tigers
Medicare's 15-member Independent Payments Advisory Board (IPAB) , a key component of President Obama's health care reform law is coming under attack from both ends of the political spectrum. To Paul Ryan, the conservative Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, the IPAB is "15 unelected bureaucrats who will ration Medicare." To Max Richtman, chief executive officer of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, an organization which lobbies for no changes in the two big entitle programs, IPAB "turns Medicare into a scapegoat" (Goozner, 6/9). 

CQ HealthBeat: Republicans Decry Medicare Cost-Control Panel While Seeking Broad Cuts
Even as Republicans insist on entitlement cuts as part of a deal on raising the debt ceiling, they continue to pursue dismantling the independent advisory board that is key to President Obama's plan to limit Medicare spending growth. Republicans strongly oppose the yet-to-be-appointed Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), saying that instead of depoliticizing Medicare spending decisions and forcing lawmakers to accept some cuts, as supporters argue, the panel would lead to rationing of care and cede congressional authority over Medicare to 15 appointees (Ethridge, 6/9).