In her White House blog on Wednesday, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Nancy-Ann DeParle reinforced the need to stop Republican lawmakers in their attempts to disband the Affordable Care Act’s Independent Payment Advisor Board (IPAB), stating that the GOP alternative will significantly weaken Medicare and make insurance companies the health care deciders for millions of senior citizens.
According to DeParle’s blog the IPAB will consist of a panel of doctors, consumers and patient advocates who will give recommendations to Congress on ways to keep costs in check while protecting and strengthening benefits for patients.
Backward steps the GOP would implement, should their Medicare initiatives pass, include: a rationing of health care, an increase in premiums (according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office), a lack of control in health care costs, and insurance company control of medical care to seniors based upon corporate P&L statements.
In comparison measures being set in place by enactment of the Affordable Care Act’s IPAB will: ensure patient control of their medical plan and procedures with guidance from their personal physicians, lower Medicare costs over the long term according to Nobel prize-winning economists and the CBO, and make sure that patient care is not rationed.
DeParle wrote, “Rather than revisiting the past and trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Congress should work on strengthening Medicare and creating jobs.”
The IPAB is a critical part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which passed Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010. During the fight for passage of the health care reform law, Nancy-Ann DeParle was the White House Office of Health Reform Director.
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