Republicans Pledge To Not Nominate Any IPAB Members

In a letter sent last week to President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote that they will not nominate any members to the Independent Payment Advisory Board. IPAB is a 15-member panel of health care experts established under the Affordable Care Act to make annual cost-cutting recommendations for Medicare if program spending exceeds a target growth rate of 3.03%. In their letter, Boehner and McConnell wrote the panel should be repealed because its recommendations "will force providers to stop seeing Medicare patients" and lead to "access problems, waiting lists and denied care for seniors."

• "GOP Boycotts Health Care Advisory Board" (Abrams, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/9).