Will Medicare Cutting Panel Ever Get Off the Ground?
Posted at 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 29
President Obama has yet to nominate a single person to the Medicare cost cutting panel created by his health care reform law, officially called the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Sarah Kliff looks at what is holding things up.
“Obama’s former health policy advisers worry that other top health economists, those in hot demand in academia and in the industry, won’t be interested in a federal job where the compensation is low, the political controversy high and the ultimate payoff unclear.”
“To become a member of this already-maligned board, health policy experts have to… face confirmation hearings… The health law specifies that the board be made up of ‘individuals with national recognition for their expertise in health finance and economics, actuarial science,’ and other related medical fields… For their service, IPAB members will make an annual salary of $165,300, less than they would likely earn in the private sector or academia.”
