Beware the payment advisory board

In a matter of days the Supreme Court is scheduled to release its decision on the constitutionality of Obamacare. The court will either do nothing, strike down only the individual mandate, or rule the whole law is unconstitutional.

Unless the whole law is struck down, one piece, the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board, is likely to survive. Never heard of it? If you are covered by Medicare, have relatives on Medicare, are disabled or look forward to Medicare coverage in the future, you might want to read on.

IPAB consists of 15 nonelected and unaccountable presidential appointees (bureaucrats) with extraordinary power. They will decide what your doctors and your hospitals will be paid if you are a Medicare patient. PAB has a fancy name but it is simply a price control board. They are the folks who will be cutting the half trillion dollars out of Medicare that was shifted to “other priorities” in the Obamacare law.

Despite the word “advisory” in their title, their decisions are law. Congress can only overrule them with super majorities in both the House and Senate and the members of the board even take their salaries right out of the Medicare Trust Fund that you have been paying into.

For many years I ran a business that helped companies purchase health insurance plans to serve their workers and their families. One thing I know for sure: artificial price controls don’t work. Never have. People won’t deliver service below their cost. They can’t if they want to stay in business. Medicare reimbursement rates are already low and as a result seniors will find it harder and harder to find a doctor that will take them. When IPAB kicks in, the situation will only get worse.

Craig Conn

St. Charles