Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) … remember the name.
Sometime in the not so distant future, these are the people who will decide whether or not you qualify for knee replacement surgery, or if your expected lifespan is too short for that expensive heart medication, or you’re as good as dead, so why don’t you forget about chemo?
This all powerful healthcare organization, not mentioned once by Obama during the year long debate, was one of the Democrat’s primary, yet hidden motivations for healthcare reform in the first place.
Obama, ever the pragmatist, figured out a can’t fail way to cut healthcare spending by the government - deny services to seniors. This way, everyone gets the same healthcare (none) and no one has to pay for it. Problem solved.
Some have mistaken the IPAB as Sarah Palin’s infamous “death panels”, and that is of course correct, but they are also much more than that. These unelected bureaucrats will not only be making end-of-life decisions for vulnerable seniors, they will be given complete control of the federal healthcare system.
They’ll be in charge of Medicare for now … and everyone else later on when private insurance and state-run Medicaid collapse according to Democrat design.
The IPAB board will consist of 15 members appointed by the President for 6 year terms – conveniently ensuring that even given an Obama loss in 2012, Democrat appointments will remain in place for the entire next administration.
Whether or not Congressional approval of appointments will be required has not yet been confirmed. However, judging from the current collection of misfits and radicals in the White House, you can bet they’re going to be way far left of the average American … what we used to call communists back in the day.
Budget Director Peter Orszag explained: “Independent Payment Advisory Board has the power and the responsibility to put forward proposals to hit a pretty aggressive set of targets over the long term, and furthermore, the proposals take effect automatically.”
Whatever decisions these bureaucrats make will have the power of law. Overturning an IPAB edict will require 60 votes in the Senate, a ridiculously high bar considering ObamaCare was passed via reconciliation, a simple majority legislative procedure. In addition, the President will have the option to veto the Senate thus further raising the bar to 67 votes.
In laymen terms this means good luck trying to overturn anything these commies do. They are your healthcare masters now … and you’d better get used to it.
The IPAB has one core function: decrease federal healthcare costs. For the present this means specifically targeting the elderly with Medicare cuts.
In order to get the CBO scores to under $1 trillion, ObamaCare claimed that the government would save billions by rooting out Medicare fraud and controlling waste. Considering the program currently manages 45 million people and is expected to grow to 78 million by 2030, any decrease in Medicare spending is unrealistic without draconian, earth shattering entitlement reductions.
The IPAB, tasked with this terrible purpose, will be populated with individuals like “Bioethicist” Ezekiel Emmanuel who has made a career out of calling for the reallocation of “scarce medical interventions” from the worthless elderly to those with greater benefit to society, like welfare recipients.
Obama and the Democrats in Washington who voted for ObamaCare have essentially broken down the value of a human life to a simple set of equations based on age, cost, expected lifespan, illness, wellness, etc... But mostly age.
All you do is punch in the numbers and kind of like the lottery, but with bigger prizes, you see if you live or die.
