Bluegrass Institute signs petition to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board

The Bluegrass Institute recently signed on to support the repeal of a key portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).The IPAB is a board controlled by the executive branch whose members are chosen exclusively by the President. The board was created to make unilateral and unchecked decisions in Medicare spending cuts if the entitlement program grows beyond an arbitrary spending limit. According to the originators of the petition:

"The IPAB will have unprecedented power with little oversight, even though it has the power to literally change laws previously enacted by Congress. Further, the law specifically prohibits administrative or judicial review of the Secretary’s implementation of a recommendation contained in an IPAB proposal."

Having long championed the utmost transparency in all levels of government, the Bluegrass Institute signed the petition to repeal this shady board -- a board that can only be overruled by a super-majority in Congress.

Still, the astronomical and unsustainable growth in Medicare spending is an emergency for the commonwealth and the nation. Medicare and Medicaid currently make up about a quarter of federal spending, or 5 percent of the nation's GDP. What's worse, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that spending on these entitlement programs will increase to 15 percent of GDP in the next 50 years.

The IPAB is partially meant to be a unilateral solution to these spending woes where Congress -- egged on by special interests -- has failed. While IPAB puts the power to effect Medicare spending in the hands of an unchecked political body heavily influenced by the executive branch, the current system (MedPAC) puts the power to effect Medicare spending in the hands of special interests and their cronies in Congress, a system that has brought the unsustainable spending levels we see today.

It's unfortunate that the cozy relationship between government and health care has grown to the point where Kentuckians are now in the unenviable position to have to choose between the growth of Obamacare and his IPAB or the growth of Medicare. If only there were a true alternative to government-run health care available: a free market for medicine.