Repealing IPAB: Bipartisan Health Care Reform We Can All Agree On
Guest post from Representative Phil Roe, MD (R-Tenn.) Chair, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Member, House Education and Workforce Committee Chair, House GOP Doc Caucus As a physician who has lived through a massive expansion of Medicaid in my home state of Tennessee, I have had serious concerns about the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) effect […]
Neurosurgery and 600 Other Groups Urge Congress to Repeal IPAB
Today’s post originally appeared on the Protect My Doctor and Me website. It addresses a key element of the Affordable Care Act — the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) — which is a board of 15 unelected and largely unaccountable government bureaucrats whose primary purpose is to cut Medicare spending. Such cuts threaten America’s seniors […]
Neurosurgery and 500 Other Groups Urge Congress to Repeal IPAB
Today’s post originally appeared on HLC’s Prognosis Blog. It addresses a key element of the Affordable Care Act — the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) — which is a board of 15 unelected and largely unaccountable government bureaucrats whose primary purpose is to cut Medicare spending. Given the charge of this board, repealing the IPAB is […]
Double D.O.A.: The Obama and Ryan Budget Proposals
In March, President Obama released the Administration’s proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Budget. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) portion allocated $1 trillion in outlays and proposed $77.1 billion in discretionary budget authority, $0.8 billion less than the 2014 enacted level and $3 billion less than last year’s request. Of significance to many […]
Efforts to Repeal the SGR Continue
Over the past few months there has been a lot of activity on the SGR front, and the AANS and CNS have been at the forefront of discussions on the best way to fix Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula. Neurosurgery is urging Congress to incorporate the following elements in any SGR replacement […]
Moot Point: IPAB Triggers Won’t Happen This Year
On April 30, 2013, in a letter to acting CMS administrator, Marilyn Tavenner, Medicare’s acting chief actuary, Paul Spitalnic, wrote that the spending triggers for the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) will not be hit this year, nor are they expected to be activated for several more years. Over the past several years, Medicare per […]
The IPAB: No Good Rotten Very Bad News for Medicare
The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) topic is not new for Neurosurgery Blog. In fact, we have dissected and addressed its many flaws in previous blog posts. Fortunately, for patients and physicians alike, today Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) provided Congress with a solution to the problem by introducing the “Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act.” […]
Specialty Medicine Responses to New York Time IPAB Editorial
Now that everyone is back to the grind and by now over their turkey-induced comas, we wanted to highlight that last week, Alex Valadka, MD, FAANS, FACS, a neurosurgeon from Austin, Texas, and spokesperson for the Alliance of Specialty Medicine, penned a letter to the New York Times on behalf of the Alliance in response […]
Five Unanswered Questions About Health Reform
Now that the days awaiting the Supreme Court’s initial decision on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are long over, we wanted to take time to remind everyone about the many unanswered questions which remain. Will all the states now move forward to implement insurance exchanges? Will some states refuse to expand Medicaid coverage? Will most […]
The Unaccountable Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)
Recently Rep. Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX), took on CNN’s Soledad O’Brien on Medicare reform and the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) in particular. Before we show you the video here’s some background information on the topic. The IPAB was created by the health-reform legislation, and is a board of 15 unelected and largely unaccountable government […]