Monday, July 29, 2013

Howard Dean: Obamacare's Rate-Setting Mechanism Won't Work

One of the key provisions of Obamcare -- the Independent Payment Advisory Board -- is useless in keeping costs down, and will only add to bureaucracy, says former Democratic National Committee Chairman and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Dean generally likes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, but he as a few quibbles with it, he writes in a Sunday Wall Street Journal op-ed.

The Independent Payment Advisory Board is a "health-care rationing body," Dean explains, which has the power to set rates for certain procedures for Medicare and determine which procedures and drugs will be covered.

"The IPAB will be able to stop certain treatments its members do not favor by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them," he said.

No comments: