At a hearing today on Capitol Hill, Illinois congressman Peter Roskam had this question for Scott Gottlieb, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute: “Under IPAB, will healthcare providers ability to provide care to patients be affected by reimbursements being cut for particular services?” IPAB (the Independent Payment Advisory Board) is the fifteen-member board created by Obamacare to determine Medicare payments.
“I think it absolutely will,” Gottlieb said in response to Roskam's question.
Later, in the same testimony, Roskam asked the expert more directly about rationing: “Rationing as you know is not defined in the statute. Let me ask you this: can you have per se rationing based on what the Independent Payment Advisory Board makes decisions to reimburse?”
“Sure, you’re going to have payment driven so low in some settings that certain services won’t be available. Physicians won’t be available to take patients,” said Gottlieb.
Is it just a coincidence that the people that President Obama nominates to fill high-level governmental posts tend to favor government-directed health care rationing? Last year, Obama nominated Donald Berwick to head Medicare and Medicaid. Now he’s nominated Henry J. Aaron to head the Social Security Advisory Board.
Since the introduction of Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, backed by the House GOP, Democrats have been heavily engaged in “Mediscare” tactics. “Put simply, it ends Medicare as we know it,” said President Obama, attacking Ryan’s plan.
Ever wonder why health costs have risen so fast? Jim Capretta offered a thorough and informative answer to that question during recent congressional testimony before the House Budget Committee. Here’s the short answer: Federal programs and tax policy have created a situation where — whether their health care is covered through employer-provided insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid — most people have little incentive or opportunity to shop for value, to pursue the highest-quality care at the lowest-possible prices.
According to Politico, President Obama will be forced to abandon his controversial nomination of Donald Berwick as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Politico reports that “Senate Democrats have given up on confirming Don Berwick as CMS administrator in the wake of a letter from 42 Republican senators opposing the nomination,” as “there's no way for Berwick to get the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate.”
Tomorrow, President Obama will bypass the Senate and give Donald Berwick a recess appointment to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Republican Policy Committee points out that "Democrats never called a hearing on Dr. Berwick’s nomination."
Berwick is controversial because he is a big fan of Britain's National Health Service and has said: "The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open."
The Hillreports that Republican senators are highlighting Donald Berwick, Obama’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“Dr. Berwick is a huge fan of … the NHS, a system that relies on rationing health care to hold down costs,” Roberts said. “Dr. Berwick has said, ‘I am a romantic about the NHS; I love it,’ and ‘the NHS is not just a national treasure, it is a global treasure.’”
"The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open," Berwick said last June. You can find that quote and much more on Berwick's love of rationing in this piece by Jeffrey H. Anderson:
