Blog: Democrats' "Mediscare" Attacks Meant to Deflect Attention from IPAB "Rationing Board"

Statement

The "Mediscare" offensive launched by Democrats -- including top Administration officials like Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius -- to attack the GOP plan to protect and preserve Medicare isn't fooling American seniors.

Recent surveys show American seniors prefer and approve of the Republican plan authored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) which makes no changes to benefits for Americans 55 and older. It puts us on a path to pay down our debt over time and provides more assistance to lower-income Americans. Learn more.

Democrats are taking a very different approach. Central to the Medicare scheme outlined by President Obama in his "phantom budget" speech is the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a "rationing board" of bureaucrats created by ObamaCare. The Democrats' Medicare "rationing board"…

…Will Decide Who Gets What Care: "Obama's cuts, which will take effect immediately, are to be administered by his newly created Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) of 15 members appointed by the president. … The IPAB will be, essentially, the rationing board that will decide who gets what care." (Obama's Medicare hypocrisy, The Hill, 4/19/11)

…Will Mean Higher Costs for Seniors: "[IPAB] can reduce Medicare's reimbursement rates for medical service providers. This is sure to ration care or increase consumer cost sharing, since if the item cannot be paid for under Medicare consumers will have no choice but to purchase it or go without." (The wrong way to fix Medicare spending, Denver Post, 5/5/11)

…Will Mean Fewer Options for Seniors: "The fact of the matter is that IPAB won't make the notoriously inefficient Medicare program any more efficient. Through arbitrary reductions on payments to providers, it will simply reduce the supply of care. Even before the advent of a new, more powerful IPAB and a new, tougher limit on spending, Medicare's chief actuary warned that Obamacare will drive providers out of the program." (The Road to IPAB, National Review, 4/19/11)

…Is Unelected & Unaccountable to the American People: "Any decisions IPAB makes about Medicare spending automatically become law. ... Unlike other federal agencies with regulatory powers, IPAB is subject to no external review process--no public notification in advance of proposed rules, no opportunity for public comment, no administrative guidelines, and no judicial review." (The Real Mediscare, The Weekly Standard, 5/9/11)

All of this is on top of the $500 billion Democrats cut from Medicare to pay for their unsustainable new ObamaCare entitlement. No wonder American seniors prefer the Republican plan … and Democrats are so desperate to attack it.

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