U.S. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon

[Rep. Buck McKeon] – U.S. Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, voted Thursday in favor of H.R. 5, The HEALTH Act, which would repeal a portion of Obamacare known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board or “IPAB.”  IPAB is a powerful board of unelected bureaucrats whose sole job is to determine how to save money by restricting access to health care for Medicare beneficiaries.  Under Obamacare, IPAB is required to achieve specified savings in years where Medicare spending is deemed “too high.” Obamacare was signed into law on March 23, 2010.

“On the eve of the second anniversary of the government takeover of healthcare, the House again took action to repeal one of the greatest overreaches of power by the federal government by voting to repeal one of the most dangerous provisions of Obamacare,” McKeon said.  “IPAB is the embodiment of everything we feared most about the back door overhaul of our healthcare system.  IPAB allows for unaccountable Washington bureaucrats to meet behind closed doors to make unilateral decisions that should be made by patients and doctors.  This is a direct threat to our seniors and cannot stand.”

In addition to repealing IPAB, the HEALTH Act would institute medical malpractice reform, modeled after California’s own time-tested and successful law, that helps to reduce frivolous lawsuits as well as costly defensive medicine practices and healthcare costs by capping non-economic damages and limiting contingency fees lawyers can charge.  The HEALTH Act allows for the payment of 100 percent of a plaintiff’s economic losses which include: medical costs, lost wages, future lost wages, rehabilitation cots and other out-of-pocket economic loss suffered as a result of a health care injury.