Healthcare Leadership Council Announces Support for Legislation to Repeal Independent Payment Advisory Board

Council Representing Multiple Health Sectors Says Roe-Sanchez Bipartisan Bill Will Protect Beneficiaries’ Access to Quality Healthcare

WASHINGTON – The Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), a coalition of leading companies and organizations from multiple health sectors, today expressed its support for the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act (H.R. 1190), bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Representatives Phil Roe (R-TN) and Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and more than 200 cosponsors that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

IPAB is a board comprised of 15 political appointees that would have unprecedented powers to slash Medicare expenditures without conventional oversight or accountability. Even if IPAB members do not act to cut Medicare, or if appointees are not named or confirmed for the board, these powers would transfer to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Said HLC President Mary R. Grealy, “The way IPAB is structured, if the board is activated to cut Medicare in order to reach an arbitrary spending level, it will almost certainly have to be done by reducing payments to those who provide healthcare goods and services to Medicare beneficiaries. This will inevitably have a harmful impact on access to care, quality of care and the ability of seniors and Americans with disabilities to benefit from new medical innovations.”

Ms. Grealy added, “IPAB would remove patient and beneficiary voices from Medicare policymaking. The power to shape Medicare policy has historically been in the hands of the legislative branch, lawmakers who are accountable to their constituents. Transferring these powers to unelected appointees means the public will have little say in the future of a program that affects the health and well-being of tens of millions of Americans.”