Does Congress need IPAB?

Congress will once again put off a huge cut in Medicare payments to physicians, but that will not solve the underlying problems of fee-for-service payment.  

Joesph Antos' statement on premium support for Medicare before the House Committee on Ways and Means' Subcommittee on Health

All levels of government face growing pressures to restrain spending. One downside to the rapid growth in tax-financed health spending that I have documented in several prior posts is the vulnerability of the health system to measures taken to curb government spending. But the degree of such vulnerability varies dramatically across different components of the health sector.

The sustainable growth rate legislation should be replaced with sensible policies to reduce unnecessary spending and improve incentives for better health care.

The Obama team promised its health plan would fix the system by which doctors are paid under Medicare; however, the system was not reformed and doctors will not get the promised short-term hike in Medicare's current rates.

Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its latest projections of health spending. These official projections showed that the health share of GDP would rise to 19.8 percent by 2020. But just as official estimates substantially understate the role of government in health spending, they fail to highlight a point that should be of concern to all Americans.

AEI's Joe Antos says actual federal health spending for the health care bill proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be double what Reid claims it will be.