WASHINGTON — House Republicans resurrected the specter of Medicare rationing Thursday in an election-year vote to repeal cost controls in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
In the GOP cross hairs is a board that has yet to be named but would be empowered to force cuts to drug companies, insurers and other service providers if Medicare spending balloons. A Republican plan announced this week, laying down a dividing line between the parties, also would limit Medicare cost increases, but it would rely on competition among private insurance plans.
GOP lawmakers are hoping their symbolic 223-181 vote Thursday to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board will help convince seniors that Republicans, not Democrats, are the best stewards of Medicare.
The bill is likely to hit a dead end in the Senate. House Republicans all but guaranteed that when they paired the board repeal with caps on medical malpractice awards, which most Democrats oppose. The White House has issued a veto threat.
If it all sounds like a debate among Washington insiders, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., says he will have no trouble explaining to constituents why he voted to repeal the cost-cutting board.
“Do you remember death panels?” said Kingston, referring to the debunked accusation by former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin that Obama’s health care law would allow the government to withhold life-saving care from the elderly.
“It’s not necessarily a death panel, but it is a rationing panel, and rationing does lead to scarcity for some,” he said. “Who’s going to get the needed treatment, an 85-year-old or the 40-year-old with children?”
The health care law explicitly bars the board from rationing care, shifting costs to Medicare recipients or cutting their benefits.
Many House Democrats also oppose the board but for different reasons. They feel it diminishes the role of Congress.
