Senate Republicans reintroduced a bill Thursday to repeal the controversial cost-cutting board in President Obama’s healthcare law.
The bill, sponsored by 30 Republican senators including John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).
Republicans charge that the IPAB will eventually lead to healthcare rationing, although it is legally prohibited from cutting benefits or increasing out-of-pocket costs.
“Instead of putting patients and doctors in charge of personal health care decisions, the IPAB empowers government and leaves the tough medical choices up to unelected Washington bureaucrats,” Hatch said in a statement.
The IPAB is a panel of 15 healthcare experts tasked with making targeted cuts in Medicare’s payments to doctors if the program’s overall spending rises beyond a certain level.
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