Health Care

[Gabriella7]

I won't.......because it's bad for my health and well-being.

Gabriella

[Abby2006]

Obamacare Rationing Begins

(CNSNews.com) – A pre-existing condition health insurance program established by Obamacare is already straining its own budget and, to control costs, the administration’s Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has stopped enrolling any new people in the program, according to an audit by the General Accountability Office (GAO).

In addition, to further control spending, HHS has directed the program to shift more of the costs onto the current enrollees, thus raising the out-of-pocket health care expenses for the people with pre-existing conditions.

“Finally, due to growing concerns about the rate of PCIP [Pre-existing Condition Insurance Program] spending, in February 2013, CCIIO [under HHS] suspended PCIP enrollment to ensure the appropriated funding would be sufficient to cover claims for current enrollees through the end of the program,” states the GAO report, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Enrollment and Spending in the Early Retiree Reinsurance and Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan Programs.


Read more:

[Abby2006]

IPAB- ndependent Payment Advisory Board

The IPAB Will be Implemented in Two Years Unless We Act Now
by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 6/20/13 11:30 AM

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The Independent Payment Advisory Board is set to go into action later this year. The IPAB is a Medicare cost-cutting board of “experts” legally possessing the power to impose its advise, even over the desires of Congress or the president.

It has been derisively referred to as a *edited* because so many have called for it to have health care rationing powers and because its decisions could result in cost-cutting measures that deny lifesaving medical treatment. The Independent Payment Advisory Board was one of the most controversial parts of the Obamacare legislation — mainly because it puts 15 unelected strangers in charge of health decisions for most Americans.

In the name of “cost-certainty,” IPAB would have the authority to limit which specialists you see, what treatments are available, and in some cases, whether you’re eligible for care at all.

Integral to the Obama Administration’s stated mission to drive down what Americans choose to spend for life-saving and health-preserving health care, the IPAB is charged with a key role in suppressing health care spending by limiting what treatment doctors are allowed to give their patients.

David Rivkin, a former Justice Department official during the Reagan administration who represented 26 states in challenging ObamaCare, and Elizabeth Foley, a professor of constitutional law at Florida International University, issued a hard-hitting piece in today’s Wall Street Journal about how the IPAB is gearing up to launch.

Signs of ObamaCare’s failings mount daily, including soaring insurance costs, looming provider shortages and inadequate insurance exchanges. Yet the law’s most disturbing feature may be the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB, sometimes called a *edited* threatens both the Medicare program and the Constitution’s separation of powers. At a time when many Americans have been unsettled by abuses at the Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department, the introduction of a powerful and largely unaccountable board into health care merits special scrutiny.

For a vivid illustration of the extent to which life-and-death medical decisions have already been usurped by government bureaucrats, consider the recent refusal by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to waive the rules barring access by 10-year old Sarah Murnaghan to the adult lung-transplant list. A judge ultimately intervened and Sarah received a lifesaving transplant June 12. But the grip of the bureaucracy will clamp much harder once the Independent Payment Advisory Board gets going in the next two years.

The board, which will control more than a half-trillion dollars of federal spending annually, is directed to “develop detailed and specific proposals related to the Medicare program,” including proposals cutting Medicare spending below a statutorily prescribed level. In addition, the board is encouraged to make rules “related to” Medicare.

The ObamaCare law also stipulates that there “shall be no administrative or judicial review” of the board’s decisions. Its members will be nearly untouchable, too. They will be presidentially nominated and Senate-confirmed, but after that they can only be fired for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”

Once the board acts, its decisions can be overruled only by Congress, and only through unprecedented and constitutionally dubious legislative procedures—featuring restricted debate, short deadlines for actions by congressional committees and other steps of the process, and supermajoritarian voting requirements. The law allows Congress to kill the otherwise inextirpable board only by a three-fifths supermajority, and only by a vote that takes place in 2017 between Jan. 1 and Aug. 15. If the board fails to implement cuts, all of its powers are to be exercised by HHS Secretary Sebelius or her successor.

The IPAB’s godlike powers are not accidental. Its goal, conspicuously proclaimed by the Obama administration, is to control Medicare spending in ways that are insulated from the political process.

What hope is there of stopping the IPAB’s implementation?

While the board is profoundly unconstitutional, it is designed to operate in a way that makes it difficult to find private parties with standing to challenge it for at least its first several years in operation. An immediate legal challenge by Congress might be possible, but also faces standing difficulties. Unless and until courts rule on IPAB’s constitutionality, Congress should act quickly to repeal this particular portion of ObamaCare or defund its operations.

The dangers of Obamacare’s IPAB are real, as attorney Jennifer Popik of the National Right to Life Committee explains.

“The health care law instructs the IPAB to make recommendations to limit what all Americans are legally allowed to spend for their health care to hold it below the rate of medical inflation. The health care law then empowers the federal Department of Health and Human Services to implement these recommendations by imposing so-called “quality” and “efficiency” measures on health care providers,” she says.


“What happens to doctors who violate a “quality” standard by prescribing more lifesaving medical treatment than it permits? They will be disqualified from contracting with any of the health insurance plans that individual Americans, under the Obama Health Care Law, will be mandated to purchase. Few doctors would be able to remain in practice if subjected to that penalty,” Popik continues.

She concludes: “This means that a treatment a doctor and patient deem advisable to save that patient’s life or preserve or improve the patient’s health–but which exceeds the standard imposed by the government–will be denied even if the patient is willing and able to pay for it. Repeal of IPAB is critically important to prevent this rationing of life-saving medical treatment.”

Republicans have taken steps to stop the IPAB, but the Senate must act or be held accountable in the next election.[/I]

[SalpalSally]

~~"ScArE TaCtIcS"~~

[Abby2006]

No reality Sally and we have two years to get ready for it

Abby

[Mike Weins]

This death panel stuff is going to have to stop here. I'm not saying you can't discuss the IPAB, I'm saying you can't call it a "death panel" any longer. That particular phrase is too argumentative for this community. I personally haven't been paying attention to any of the health care reform stuf, even though I probably should.

I will say that according to Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... that:

IPAB is specifically prohibited by law from recommending any policies that ration care, raise taxes, increase premiums or cost-sharing, restrict benefits or modify who is eligible for Medicare.

Now I'm not naive, I know that there could be some legalese in the bill that may override that...I don't trust much of what any politician says.

So once again, please do not use the phrase "death panel" (or death panels) when discussing the IPAB.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Hi everyone. Mike can you remove the referrals to death panels please? We do not need the added stress of worry. I think they are mistaken but I am not going into a debate over it. I love this board for its support and usually it is uplifting.

I am starting to go through David's file cabinets and I have found many shocks about things I had no idea he was trying to do. David's good points out weigh his bad ones but I am learning that I did not know how he truly felt. All this sorting is depressing.

I am still on the antibiotics for my cough. Please keep me in your prayers. You are all in my prayers. Jeanie :)

[Gabriella7]

Political Agenda

Consider the source.... LifeNews....has it's own political agenda.

Gabriella

[Mike Weins]

I do apologize I had intended on editing the post to remove the phrase but forgot. The phrase has been removed except for in my reply. Do not attempt to belittle or make a poster feel bad because of their beliefs or the sources they use to express those beliefs. The preceding statement was not aimed at anyone in particular.

[Gabriella7]

Neutral

Can we just remain neutral? Not to the left nor to the right? That way the discussions are about the topic and not the beliefs of the poster. JMHO

Gabriella

[Kathi49]

I am under the FEHB, have Medicare A&B and Tricare for Life. Having said that, I tend to lean towards forums, sites that pertain to federal employees and annuitants rather than news articles since I am federal retiree. It doesn't look good for us but at least some of us have options to suspend our insurance...NOT giving it up...just suspending. But no one will know for sure until Open Season comes about. I am just grateful that things are going good for now.

[Gabriella7]

Ditto....

I am also FEHB as secondary with Medicare A&B primary due to age. I'm not changing either and haven't in years just waiting to see what comes of any changes for us......

Gabriella

[Abby2006]

There are changes coming of that you can be sure[ and remember you knew about them in advance.

Abby

Did anyone get the little book Ration Care?
*edited out non working link*

There was a German poster in 1939 and was used to convince the population that the sick and disabled did not deserve to live
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the translaton was this:
A German poster from 1939
When Hitler began to kill the sick and disabled before he started on the Jews.

Translation:

60,000 Reich marks. What this person suffering from is hereditary defects costs the People’s community during his lifetime. Comrade, that is your money too.

[Frog42]

My mother grew up in WWII Germany and she never killed anyone.

[Gabriella7]

Link Not Working!

Abby, your link to the book Ration Care does not work. I even did a search and came up with nothing but I did find another book "Citizen's Guide to Health Care Reform" by Dr. Robert L. McCan, PhD which one can read online and get a lot of information about the "Affordable Care Act".

The reference to Hitler's poster is offensive.

Gabriella