Rep. George Miller Opposes Repeal of Critical Piece of Health Care Reform Law
WASHINGTON – The Energy and Commerce committee today approved a bill, H.R. 452, to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a key cost-efficiency provision of the historic Affordable Care Act. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), who was a coauthor of the Affordable Care Act as chairman of the Education and Labor Committee in 2009 and 2010, issued the following statement in opposition to the Republican bill to repeal IPAB.
“I strongly oppose this legislation. It eliminates from the Affordable Care Act a critical measure for lowering health care costs. The fact is that the independent board will make Medicare more cost efficient and make health care better and more secure for seniors and future generations. Without this kind of innovation, it will be more difficult to truly bring down the spiraling increase in the cost of health care for families, businesses, and taxpayers.
“With the Affordable Care Act, for the first time, Congress put in place specific and identifiable measures to make Medicare and our health system more efficient. The IPAB is one of those measures. This board serves as a backstop to ensure that our federal health programs operate efficiently and effectively for both seniors and taxpayers. The Independent Payment Advisory Board will not usurp the role of Congress. It simply acts as a failsafe in case government spending exceeds benchmarks. Congress retains its role in health care – but in an improved, more efficient fashion.
“The bill that was reported today, H.R. 452, is part of the Republican plan to undermine and ultimately repeal the Affordable Care Act and with it all of the progress that has been made during the last two years. Millions of Americans are already benefiting from the new law. And Medicare costs are now projected to be $100 billion less in 2020 than previously estimated, in part because of the ACA.
“If Congress begins to roll back these reforms, then we will not see the efficiencies and innovations that experts agree will stabilize our health care system. If we want to keep Medicare strong, maintain its guarantee, and avoid Republican proposals to turn it into a voucher system with growing costs shifted onto seniors, we need to protect the IPAB and other critical reforms of the Affordable Care Act.”
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