WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., said today he has re-introduced his legislation to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) created in the Affordable Care Act.
Roe’s IPAB bill in the last session of Congress had over 230 cosponsors, including 20 Democrats, and passed the House but not the Senate. Roe reintroduces the bill with 83 original bipartisan cosponsors.
IPAB was created to rein in Medicare spending, but Roe feels it intervenes in the patient-doctor relationship.
"I will continue to push for a full repeal of the IPAB, and I look forward to working with my colleagues — both Republicans and Democrats — to protect and preserve Medicare," Roe said in a prepared release.
U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., was the lead Democrat cosponsor of Roe’s bill, which also has the backing of U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va.
"Since its beginning, I have been troubled by the creation of this board, which would give authority to 15 unelected bureaucrats who have the power to decide what treatment is provided through Medicare," Griffith said.