House Republicans scored another victory on the road to repealing Obamacare today when the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 17-5 to send the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act of 2011 to the House floor.
The bipartisan bill, it has 17 Democratic co-sponsors, would eliminate the Independent Payment Advisory Board from Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Under Obama’s scheme, the 15 member IPAB would have had the unprecedented power to cut $575 billion from Medicare over 10 years through rationing and price controls.
“Are we really willing to give a panel of unelected, unaccountable ‘experts’ the authority to decide whether a medical treatment option is of value? Or do we think those decisions should be made by patients and doctors?” Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., asked before this morning’s vote.
Two Democrats, Reps. Frank Pallone, N.J., and Ed Towns, N.Y. joined Republicans in voting for IPAB’s repeal.
“This vote today is more than a statement about the deficiencies of the health care law. It is a necessary and deliberate choice not to give an unelected, unaccountable, and likely unconstitutional panel of 15 bureaucrats the power to take over the decisions of patients and doctors,” Upton said.
There is little chance Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will even allow the bill to be debated in the Senate. But the bipartisan nature of today’s vote shows how isolated Obama has become on Medicare reform.
