Press Advisory

In his testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health (embargoed until delivery Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 9:00 a.m.), Scott Gottlieb, MD focuses on the 15-member Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) created by the 2010 health reform law to oversee Medicare payment rates and recommend spending reductions in the program as of 2014.

In particular, Gottlieb highlights:

IPAB's lack of transparency and openness to public notice and comment;

The future use of widespread reimbursement cuts and lower price schedules to solve Medicare's fiscal crisis all of which will undoubtedly result in hindering medical innovation;and

The likelihood that IPAB will give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) more authority in choosing which medical products and services CMS will cover, when the agency has little competency to make such judgments

As a solution, Gottlieb suggests premium support, modernizing benefits in traditional Medicare, and paying for better health outcomes.

You may also be interested in recent remarks by AEI Resident Fellow Tom Miller explaining how IPAB will eliminate innovation and remove incentives to save money and increase efficiency.

Gottlieb and Miller are available for interviews and can be contacted at scott.gottlieb@aei.org or tmiller@aei.org or through their research assistant gabriel.sudduth@aei.org / 202.862.7183.

For other media inquiries, or to reserve AEI's ISDN facilities for radio interviews, please e-mail Veronique Rodman at rodmanv@aei.org or Jesse Blumenthal at jesse.blumenthal@aei.org. AEI's in-house ReadyCam TV studio may be booked by calling VideoLink at 617.340.4300.