ObamaCare's Rationing Board Next on the Chopping Block
With Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House, we enemies of socialized medicine are all too aware that repealing ObamaCare whole hog just isn't going to happen any time before 2012. So what should the GOP be doing in the meantime? For one, making the case against ObamaCare and presenting an alternative. As Pat Caddell said on a Ricochet podcast a few months ago,
You have to educate and engage the public on this. The issue of what happens to the future of this country, and to our children and our grandchildren is the overwhelming concern. But this a narrative that isn't being laid out.
In Pat's opinion, Republicans are failing abysmally in the task of convincing Americans of the need for entitlement reform. As far as making the case against ObamaCare goes however, I'd argue that they're doing a decent job under the leadership of both Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann. But laying out the narrative and engaging the public is tough, tiresome work that may or may not reap benefits depending on the outcome of 2012.
On the other hand, the GOP's short term strategy has been to dismantle and defund ObamaCare piece by piece. In April, the GOP stewarded a successful bi-partisan effort to repeal ObamaCare's 1099 tax form mandate. Now Republicans are going after ObamaCare's Medicare rationing board, the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Politico reports that the Republicans may be able to shore up some unlikely allies in the quest to repeal the IPAB:
Several House Democrats have signed on to support a bill to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a panel created by the law that is supposed to help control rising costs in Medicare. The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a prominent supporter of the law, is now actively lobbying for its repeal, too.
[...]
“Abdicating this responsibility, whether to insurance companies or an unelected commission, would undermine our ability to represent the needs of the seniors and disabled in our communities,” Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), a prominent supporter of most of the reform law, wrote in a letter to colleagues in April.
Schwartz has been actively lobbying fellow Democrats to join the Republican repeal measure. So far, the bill has seven Democratic co-sponsors — most recently, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.).
Sources tell POLITICO that others also have suggested privately that they would support the bill if it comes to the House floor.
Yes, the Democrats who oppose the IPAB oppose it for the "wrong reasons." But if we support the GOP's strategy of dismembering this legislation limb by limb, this news is certainly reason for optimism.
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Oct '10
Re: ObamaCare's Rationing Board Next on the Chopping Block
I completely disagree. The more we cut out the really bad parts, the less sense of urgency the public has to repeal the entire law. Imagine this refrain: "Oh, its not so bad now, the really rotten stuff was taken out. Keeping the rest of Obamacare is OK now." 159 new agencies are being created as a platform for a complete takeover of our healthcare system in the near future. Removing the 1099 provision and the IPAB take away great arguments for complete repeal.
Dec '10
Re: ObamaCare's Rationing Board Next on the Chopping Block
I believe Ken is exactly correct. The Br'er Rabbit Dems want us to cut out the bad parts that actually attempt to pay for their boondoggle and leave the smoking behemoth completely unfunded, plus have Republicans to blame.
Take a friend, a successful small businessman. I had warned him of the onerous 1099 nonsense that was going to make him miserable; now that's gone, so he sees no pain. He also sees no pain from the IPAB off in the distance. Talked with him yesterday and he told me that he can't get health insurance, regardless of price, primarily because of his height to weight ratio (awful). There, he sees light at the end of the rainbow in two years, because then he can't be denied coverage, "...Unless the Republicans take it away". So he doesn't have to lose some weight, he needs to roll the dice for two years, then all will be well, unless the GOP robs him of his finish line.
Try selling public fiscal prudence to the squishy middle (<-- see what I did there!), given the state of much of the electorate.
Re: ObamaCare's Rationing Board Next on the Chopping Block
You may be right, but I'm not convinced that it's impossible to hack enough off that the legislation becomes entirely impotent. The next big chunk to go should be the individual mandate -- and that one might be taken care of by the Court.
Mar '11
Re: ObamaCare's Rationing Board Next on the Chopping Block
The stakes are too high to play chicken with health care. I’d like to blow ObamaCare to smithereens, but we can’t do that now. Death by a thousand cuts sounds like a mighty good alternative until the day that we can.