Friday, March 23, marks the two-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA/ObamaCare) being signed into law. The Obama Administration is launching a full out plan to convince the people that the first two years of ObamaCare has been of great benefit to the American people. Their stated strategy is to “Increase overall public support for the law by making the benefits of the law (and consequences of taking those away) tangible by featuring stories of real people impacted.” Their strategy will focus on a specific group or topic each day. In response, Concerned Women for America will also be making a comment about each of these groups or topics. Monday’s topic is “Seniors.”
STATEMENT ON SENIORS
Two years ago, when ObamaCare passed, the president promised Americans that if we like our health care, we could keep it. We were skeptical of his promise then, and the passage of time has not alleviated our concerns.
Concerned Women for America (CWA), the largest public policy organization for women with 500,000 members nationwide, believes that ObamaCare “provides health care” for some on the backs of our seniors.
“ObamaCare will lead to rationing. An unelected and unaccountable bureaucratic board will decide what treatments our elderly parents receive,” stated Penny Nance, CWA’s Chief Executive Officer and President. “No longer will we be able to make decisions in conjunction with medical professionals about our parents’ needs; these decisions will be decided by reimbursement rates set by an inauspicious board.”
This Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) has now become one of the most controversial aspects of ObamaCare. Both Democrats and Republicans in the House are working to repeal IPAB that was included in ObamaCare. IPAB gives a “powerful, unelected, 15-member Medicare payment board” the power to take decision-making “away from doctors and patients and [put] it the hands of elite experts who have virtually no accountability to voters.”
The House is preparing to vote on a bill next Thursday that would repeal IPAB.
“This will be a tremendous burden to women, who, according to the United States Department of Labor, make 80 percent of the health care decisions for their families and are the primary caregivers when a family member falls ill.”