Huizenga Votes to Protect Seniors, Strengthen Health Care Choices

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga today joined the House to pass the bipartisan Protecting Access to Healthcare (PATH) Act, which repeals one of the most deeply-flawed creations of President Obama's health care law, the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), and replace it with meaningful and necessary medical malpractice lawsuit abuse reform.

IPAB is an unelected and unaccountable board of 15 bureaucrats empowered to decide Medicare reimbursement for doctors, in order to "control costs."

The call for repeal is bipartisan and broadly supported by seniors, people with disabilities, and health care providers across America.

"The potential risk is too great to allow a rogue board of bureaucrats given carte blanche to look at paper, not patients, when deciding whether to restrict treatment options for seniors and rationing and denying their access to care. As a son with elderly parents, I don't want to see that for them, or for anyone in America. We can all agree we want to see cost-savings in health care, but let's do that through common sense medical malpractice reform, not at the expense of our parents, grandparents, and seniors across America. Repealing IPAB reinforces that patients and their doctors -- not this board of unelected bureaucrats -- should be making health care decisions," Huizenga said.

Twenty-eight states have already enacted medical liability reform that includes caps on non-economic damages. H.R. 5's "replace" portion to make up the same savings in a more common sense manner is modeled on these successful state laws, protecting patients' rights while curbing lawsuits that drive up costs for everyone - to the tune of about $210 billion.

Today's bill marks the 26th time the House of Representatives and Rep. Huizenga have voted to fully repeal, defund, or dismantle ObamaCare, which has been revealed to have a myriad of provisions that increase health care costs; it cuts $500 billion from Medicare (nearly half its funds) to pay for it; and makes it harder for small businesses to hire new workers.

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