MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Legislative leaders from the House and Senate last week looked to put the kaibosh on 1 of the things they dislike most about Obamacare: The Medicare advisory board that’s supposed to help keep healthcare costs down.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate’s minority leader, told President Barack Obama May 9 that they’ll refuse to nominate any candidates for the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Boehner also said the House will vote this week (again, for the 37th time) on repealing Obamacare entirely, The Hill reports.
The IPAB "is a board with 15 unelected, unaccountable individuals who have the authority to deny seniors access to care. The American people don’t want the federal government making decisions that doctors and patients should be making," Boehner said during a news conference last week, according to the website.
Asked why the House was voting yet again to repeal the Affordable Care Act,in the face of an all-but-assured cold shoulder in the Democratically controlled Senate, the House leader said the roughly 70 new representatives in the 114th Congress demanded the vote.
"Frankly, they have been asking for an opportunity to vote on it, and we are going to give it to them," Boehner said, according to The Hill.
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