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Ryan: IPAB Repeal Vote An Important Step In Saving Medicare

Statement

By: Paul Ryan
By: Paul Ryan
Date: March 8, 2012
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net Health Insurance Health and Health Care

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan spoke out in support of H.R. 452, the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act of 2011, which passed the Ways and Means Committee earlier today. The bill repeals the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats given the power by the President's new health care law to make cost-cutting decisions that will lead to restricted access to critical care for seniors.

Following the advancement of H.R. 452 by the House Ways and Means Committee, Ryan issued the following statement:

"Today's vote marks another important step toward removing a threat to the health security of America's seniors. Repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board is critical to ensuring that seniors never have to face the waiting lists and rationed care that have affected other nations who have gone down the misguided path of bureaucratic medicine.

"But simply repealing IPAB will not be enough. The President's health care law also raids Medicare of over $500 billion to pay for a costly new entitlement program that will worsen our nation's fiscal health. It imposes one-size-fits-all regulations on health insurance and then forces all Americans to buy it with an individual mandate. Bipartisan solutions that improve affordable access to quality health care cannot proceed until this partisan roadblock is repealed in its entirety.

"The House Republican model empowers seniors, not bureaucrats, to make decisions over their health care. These reforms will save and strengthen Medicare for the next generation by forcing insurance companies and health plans to compete against each other to offer higher quality care at lower costs. There is a growing bipartisan consensus in support of giving individuals and their doctors greater control over their health care -- a clear contrast to the growing bipartisan opposition to the President's health care law. With today's vote to repeal IPAB, we've taken a positive step today in the right direction."


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