On May 9, 2013, Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), and Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), sent a letter to President Obama declining to make appointments of individuals to serve on the Individual Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).  The IPAB, created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), is a 15-member board charged with developing recommendations to curb the per capita growth in Medicare spending.  The IPAB members are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate.  The May 9th letter from Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell was in response to a March 29, 2013 request by the President to submit names of individuals to serve on the IPAB.

In their letter, Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell declined to make the appointments because the ACA “will give the IPAB’s 15 unelected, unaccountable individuals the ability to deny seniors access to innovative care.”  They further stated their belief that implementation of the IPAB and the reduced payments it is charged with making will “force providers to stop seeing Medicare patients, the same way an increased number of doctors have stopped taking Medicaid patients.  This will lead to access problems, waiting lists and denied care for seniors.”  Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell believe Congress should repeal the IPAB, along with the rest of the ACA, and instead work “in a bipartisan manner to develop the long-term structural changes that are needed to strengthen and protect Medicare for today’s seniors, their children, and their grandchildren.”

For access to Speaker Boehner’s and Senator McConnell’s letter, click here.

Reporter, Tracy Weir, Washington, D.C., +1 202 626 2923, tweir@kslaw.com.