October 05, 2012
I’m not kidding. In his column today he complains about the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) for Medicare that was set up under one of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The IPAB will decide on which procedures will be covered under Medicare. If it determines that a procedure is either not effective or not worth the cost, then Medicare will not cover it, unless Congress overturns the decision.
George Will then trumpets this as rationing of health care. Of course under this system, anyone will be able to get whatever health care they want, they will just have to pay for it out of their own pocket. The fact that Will now calls this situation “rationing” of care shows the state of modern conservatism.
Btw, the same situation under all the plans put forward by Governor Romney and Representative Ryan. There is no insurance company that covers all care. So insurers will decide which procedures they want to pay for. Furthermore, unlike Medicare, there will be no elected representatives who can overturn their decisions. They can also change coverage on people unexpectedly — that is unless pointy headed bureaucrats in Washington stand in their way.
[Note — headline corrected 11:00 A.M. 10-6-12 and “IPAB” was originally written as “IPAD”]
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