Another victory for the forces of life:
Bipartisan legislation to repeal the healthcare law’s cost-control board sailed through a House panel on Wednesday, raising pressure on the Senate to take up the bill and dealing President Obama a political blow.
The Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee vote was 17-5, with ranking member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) crossing the aisle to vote for repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board. There were no amendments.
Votes in the full committee and on the House floor have not yet been scheduled but are expected to happen by the end of next month, in conjunction with Supreme Court arguments on the healthcare reform law.
Note the second paragraph in the quote above. Even two Democrats found this part of the law an overreach! Maybe it was this that concerned them:
“Supporters of IPAB tell us there is nothing wrong with having 15 unelected bureaucrats making binding decisions about Medicare policy,” [Panel Chairman Joe] Pitts [(R-PA)] said.
“They are not troubled by the fact that there is no requirement for public comment prior to IPAB issuing its recommendations. That IPAB’s actions are not subject to judicial review does not alarm them.”
In other words, the IPAB — commonly called the Death Panel — was unelected, unaccountable, and its decisions were all but impossible to repeal. Sounds like the dream of hard-line lefties everywhere.
I’m pretty sure the full House will also vote to repeal, leaving the Democrat-led Senate in a quandary… do they vote to repeal this, and embarrass a President of their party; or do they vote to uphold this odious board? Likely Harry Reid will sit on it as long as possible, so let’s hope the Senate GOP finds a set of backbones and raises a stink about it if he does.
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