Why Republicans Are Fighting To Repeal Obama’s Medicare Cost-Cutting Board

[highplainsdem]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/why-republicans-are-fighting-to-repeal-obamas-medicare-cost-cutting-board.php

House Republicans are poised to advance legislation this week to repeal President Obama’s Medicare cost-cutting board, a provision enacted in the health care reform law. The Energy & Commerce Committee is set to mark it up this Wednesday, and the repeal bill already has enough cosponsors to pass the House. It’s not expected to survive the Senate or Obama’s veto pen, but the debate over this provision cuts to the heart of the battle over how to save Medicare in the long run.

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That’s why the debate over IPAB is more important than meets the eye: it’s the best idea Democrats have come up with to keep Medicare alive over time in its existing “defined benefit” structure. IPAB is their most credible weapon against the push to move to a voucher system. But repealing it adds momentum to the increasingly industry-backed GOP push for a “defined contribution” model that ends the coverage guarantee for America’s seniors.

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TPM asked Coburn whether IPAB could achieve the basic goal of holding down Medicare spending. “You can do it that way. That’s right,” he said. “But remember what that does — that puts the government right in between you and the decisions made very personally by you and your caregiver… And so I reject that way.”

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Democrats currently have the advantage because unlike the GOP plan, IPAB is already signed into law. But there’s a potentially fatal flaw in their plan: Senate Republicans have already threatened to filibuster confirmation of any members to the panel. So unless Democrats defend the need for the IPAB and persuade the public that the alternative is a Ryan-style plan that privatizes Medicare, it’s going to be a tough slog to keep traditional Medicare around over the long run. So far neither Obama nor congressional Democrats have talked much about IPAB.

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[patrice]

1. Everyone needs to understand way more about all of the different ways that Medicare does

what it does, in addition to their own single points of contact with it.

[patrice]

2. And especially the way that it exists in contexts that include FOR PROFIT health care.