Whether they buy the notion that it’s a “death panel” or not, potential candidates are not beating down the doors to serve on the new Independent Payment Advisory Board, one of the most controversial pieces of the 2010 federal health care reform law. Bloomberg Businessweek blames (or credits, depending on your perspective) the Washington establishment.
The law requires the panel to be made up of prominent doctors, economists, hospital executives, and insurance industry representatives. Candidates are subject to Senate approval, which means they must endure potentially hostile public hearings. “They are going to be held to a high level of scrutiny,” says Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican and orthopedic surgeon. “We’re going to have tough questions. We’re going to demand answers to know where they stand and then make decisions about each one of them individually.” Barrasso has made it clear where he stands. He’s a co-sponsor of the Health Care Bureaucrats Elimination Act, a bill that would do away with the IPAB.
Board members willing to go through all that must also agree to serve for six years, full time; they have to quit their current jobs because of conflict-of-interest concerns. “They are going to have to lead this Rapunzel-like existence hidden away somewhere in a tower,” says J.D. Kleinke, a health-care economist who’s writing a book on Obamacare. The salary of $165,300, though respectable, is far less than top doctors and health-care executives typically make.
