After multiple failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act earlier this year, and this summer in particular, Congressional Republicans now need to find new opportunities to fix the health care system.
To be sure, despite Congress shifting focus from health care at this time, there are still major issues with the Affordable Care Act that need to be resolved.
In particular, one of the most controversial provisions in the Affordable Care Act created the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, which is tasked with decreasing Medicare spending without affecting coverage or quality.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R), R-SC, stands with Senator Bill Cassidy (L), R-LA, Senator Dean Heller (2nd L), R-NV, and Senator Ron Johnson (2nd R), R-WI, as well as former Senator Rick Santorum (C) to announce their legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare through block grants on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
This board has the complete authority to decide which treatments and services should be cut and which should be reallocated, putting the lives of dependent Americans in their hands.
Although IPAB has yet to be enacted, experts claim that we are close to reaching the threshold. If this happens, because no board has been appointed, Secretary Price assumes the authority and can make drastic cuts to Medicare.
I have long been a critic of IPAB because it takes the Medicare decision-making process away from doctors and gives it to an unelected, unaccountable advisory board of bureaucrats.
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Despite the recent display of bipartisanship between the Trump administration and Congressional Democratic leaders in regard to a new debt ceiling agreement, health care remains one of the most divisive issues on Capitol Hill.
After multiple failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act earlier this year, and this summer in particular, Congressional Republicans now need to find new opportunities to fix the health care system.
To be sure, despite Congress shifting focus from health care at this time, there are still major issues with the Affordable Care Act that need to be resolved.
In particular, one of the most controversial provisions in the Affordable Care Act created the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, which is tasked with decreasing Medicare spending without affecting coverage or quality.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R), R-SC, stands with Senator Bill Cassidy (L), R-LA, Senator Dean Heller (2nd L), R-NV, and Senator Ron Johnson (2nd R), R-WI, as well as former Senator Rick Santorum (C) to announce their legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare through block grants on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
This board has the complete authority to decide which treatments and services should be cut and which should be reallocated, putting the lives of dependent Americans in their hands.
Although IPAB has yet to be enacted, experts claim that we are close to reaching the threshold. If this happens, because no board has been appointed, Secretary Price assumes the authority and can make drastic cuts to Medicare.
I have long been a critic of IPAB because it takes the Medicare decision-making process away from doctors and gives it to an unelected, unaccountable advisory board of bureaucrats.
