FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: “AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NEXT”--VA HOSPITAL CARE RATIONING MIRRORS WHAT’S IN STORE IN OBAMACARE, ACCORDING TO LAWSUIT IN 9TH CIRCUIT TUES

Contact: Michael Kelley

(602) 633-8965

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: “AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NEXT”–VA HOSPITAL CARE RATIONING MIRRORS WHAT’S IN STORE IN OBAMACARE, ACCORDING TO LAWSUIT IN 9^TH CIRCUIT TUES

The federal health care law’s ‘rationing board’ will similarly eliminate oversight of proper care for sick Americans, and Congress will be forbidden from repealing it 

Amidst rampant reports of dying patients and disappearing wait lists at the federal government’s Veterans Affairs hospital system, a lawsuit before the 9^th Circuit Tuesday argues that an even more significant lack of government unaccountability leading to terrible health care outcomes is in store for the American people under Obamacare.

A linchpin of the 2010 federal health care law, the Independent Payment Advisory Board is the health care rationing super-legislature tasked with setting Medicare benefits and prices. But the rationing board will be far from advisory—the Board’s actions will automatically become law without public input, congressional vote, the President’s signature, or even judicial review. Unlike the VA hospital system, which Congress now seeks to reform, no such reforms will be possible under IPAB. In fact, Congress will not even be able to repeal the board.

A lawsuit before the Ninth Circuit next week challenging the legality of the IPAB seeks to change that. According to the lawsuit, Coons v. Lew, IPAB must be struck down because it violates the Separation of Powers doctrine central to the American system. The suit alleges that IPAB represents an unconstitutional delegation of Congressional powers to an unelected, unaccountable executive agency, insulated from American checks and balances.

“This is the greatest expansion of the federal government into our private medical lives in American history,” said Christina Sandefur, an attorney for the Goldwater Institute who is leading the lawsuit. “IPAB will determine when, how, and what kind of medical services Americans can receive and we won’t be allowed to question the board’s decisions.”

Comparing IPAB to the VA, Sandefur said, “A silver lining of the VA tragedy is that both the President and Congress are finally calling for reform. But no such scrutiny will be possible when IPAB makes unpopular, incompetent or harmful decisions.”

“If fundamental constitutional principles are eviscerated by allowing IPAB to stand, Americans can expect stories like the VA scandal to become commonplace.”

Oral arguments in the case will be heard Tuesday, June 10 in San Francisco, before Ninth Circuit Judges Mary Schroeder, Susan Graber, and Jay Bybee.<o:p></o:p>

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To schedule an interview with the Goldwater Institute, please contact Michael Kelley with the Goldwater Institute at (602) 633-8965 or mkelley@goldwaterinstitute.org. The Goldwater Institute has an in-house VideoLink studio for rapid cable hook-up if needed.