Lawmakers Renew Calls to Repeal IPAB

On December 4, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Congressman Phil Roe, M.D., (R-TN-01) joined with several of their colleagues to urge the Supreme Court to take up a case challenging the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) created through the Affordable Care Act.  These lawmakers expressed their concerns with IPAB in an amicus brief they planned to file with the court, where they request the court take up Coons v. Lew, a lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute on behalf of Dr. Eric Novack, an orthopedic surgeon, and Nick Coons, an Arizona businessman, challenging the constitutionality of IPAB.  IPAB is a non-elected advisory board with unilateral powers to mandate reductions in Medicare Part B payments.

Additionally, Sen. Coburn and Congressman Roe published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal detailing their concerns, including:

“Given its awesome power over a program that touches nearly 50 million Americans, IPAB’s lack of constraints and accountability has raised alarms with advocates for physicians, employers and Medicare beneficiaries. Groups as varied in their missions and beliefs as the American Medical Association, Easter Seals, National Right to Life, Vietnam Veterans of America and the Children’s Rare Disease Network are among the hundreds that have called for IPAB’s repeal.”

The American Society of Anesthesiologists has long supported and worked for repeal of IPAB.