Republicans want IPAB repeal in debt deal

House Republicans are targeting federal health system reform law provisions for repeal in a budget agreement with Senate Democrats and the White House before the end of 2012.

Democrats have defended against efforts to weaken the 2010 landmark law, but top Republicans have continued to push for eliminating parts of the Affordable Care Act. The law adds an “unworkable government program at a time when our national debt already exceeds the size of our country’s entire economy,” wrote House Speaker John Boehner (R, Ohio) in the Nov. 21 Cincinnati Enquirer.

A budget agreement should repeal new taxes on the medical device industry and cancel the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R, Va.) said in a Nov. 26 interview with Fox News.

IPAB “is the essence of Washington controlling all that health care is about in this country,” Cantor said. “There is bipartisan support to do away with that.”

Organized medicine supports eliminating IPAB. The board would implement Medicare reforms that could include physician pay cuts if the program exceeds growth targets.

Recent budgets proposed by President Obama have included strengthening IPAB to achieve more Medicare savings. Obama has promoted a balanced approach — a mix of revenue increases and spending decreases — to address the country’s fiscal problems.

“It should be noted that through the Affordable Care Act, significant savings in our health care entitlements have already been locked in,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters during a Nov. 26 briefing. “It should be noted that in the president’s own proposal, in his budget & he calls for an additional $340 billion in savings out of health care programs.”

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/12/10/gvbf1210.htm.