DJP Update 8-10-2011 IPAB elimination = Policy + ACTION: press release plus TV ad; WATCH video!
IPAB is the “Independent Payment Advisory Board” detailed in sections 3403 & 10320 of PPACA (Public Law 111-148 & amended by P.L. 111-152).
As I have said many times in past, WORDS mean something. And words should be used correctly. Not Humpty Dumpty fashion (This means the meaning changes depending on speaker’s circumstances or desires) or in Orwell’s 1984 style.
Cutting funds, just like SGR price-fixing, leads to loss of access to care as balance-billing is not allowed. Australia allows balance-billing by allowing negotiation between patient and physician of any amount (the “gap” is what they call it) beyond what the government pays. America does not in Medicare and Medicaid. In America, the doctor cannot even forgive the co-pay.
But, ACTION is what gets a person or an organization’s policy to the destination.
Over 270 organizations, including AMA, have officially stated their opposition to IPAB. AMA now has policy to repeal IPAB with the vote taken at the Annual Meeting of the AMA June 2011. There are members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, who oppose IPAB. ( See http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58655.html for some of them)
But action by all is needed.
Here is one action taken to alert the public about the need to get rid of IPAB: a press release AND a video ad for national TV. Let’s all take some action on IPAB and the other important issues such as the restoration of balance-billing without penalty.
Here is the video that will play on TV starting today and the text of the press release that is released today.
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/user/patientsnow
Video also can be viewed at: http://www.protectpatientsrights.org/
Watch for it on TV!
PRESS RELEASE:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: media@protectpatientsrights.org
August 10, 2011 (703) 405-9407
CPPR Releases National Ad Outlining Dangers of IPAB
WASHINGTON, DC – The Coalition to Protect Patients Rights (CPPR) is up today with a $1.4 million television ad buy that will be featured on national cable and targeted local broadcast stations discussing the dangers of the Affordable Care Act’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). You can see the ad here.
“I believe it is vital that Americans become educated on the harmful effect the Independent Payment Advisory Board is expected to have on medical care available to seniors throughout the United States,” former president of the American Medical Association and current spokesman of CPPR, Dr. Palmisano said.
Dr. Palmisano continued, “In addition to cutting over $500 billion from Medicare to pay for their new law, the Affordable Care Act’s authors added insult to injury by creating this unaccountable cost-cutting board that will have almost no oversight and the power to cut billions from the Medicare program every year. I want to encourage patients and doctors to contact their elected representatives and demand that IPAB be repealed before the quality of seniors’ medical care is further diminished.”
Starting in 2015, the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) – a 15-member panel of unelected bureaucrats – will be empowered to make cuts to the Medicare program every year in which spending exceeds targeted growth rates. IPAB’s recommended cuts will become law unless a supermajority inCongress vetoes the board’s proposal and creates its own cost-cutting plan of equal size. There is no administrative or legal appeal available to citizens.
Support for the repeal of IPAB is broad and bipartisan. More than 72 House Democrats joined on a letter to then-Speaker Pelosi asking her to remove IPAB from the original health care legislation and in June a letter signed by 270 health care groups was sent to the Hill urging Members to repeal IPAB. Even the American Medical Association, a vocal proponent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act before its passage, recently announced its opposition to IPAB.
The Coalition to Protect Patients Rights supports a full repeal of IPAB to ensure American patients have continued access to quality health care.
The full script:
Narrator: Do you remember when they said…
Nancy Pelosi: We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.
Narrator: Well, we found out—and it’s bad.
Narrator: After cutting 500 billion from Medicare, the president’s health care law created a new law of 15 unelected bureaucrats—unaccountable, like a Medicare IRS with the power to cut payments to doctors and deny seniors care to pay for more wasteful Washington spending.
Narrator: Tell Washington bureaucrats shouldn’t have the power to deny seniors care.
About the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights: The Coalition to Protect Patients Rights is a non-partisan, grassroots coalition made up of over 10,000 doctors, health care providers, advocacy groups, and concerned citizens who are dedicated to the implementation of patient-centered health care reform that will improve patient care. For more information, visit the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights website at www.protectpatientsrights.org. Also, check out CPPR’s Facebook account here, and its Twitter feed at PatientsNOW.
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Onward.
Stay well.
Donald
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