WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today introduced the Repeal Rationing in Support of Life Act to protect life-saving medical treatments threatened by rationing in Obamacare.
This is the third in a series of bills, part of a comprehensive effort by Senator Roberts, to prevent the federal government from limiting access to life-saving medical care for patients at all stages of life. Audio and video of Senator Roberts speaking about the bill on the Senate floor is here.
“Obamacare has made many Americans fearful that cost-cutting and rationing of care will limit their options for health care at a time when they are vulnerable–when they are sick or battling a life threatening condition,” Roberts said. “By introducing this bill, we are fighting against hidden barriers to treatment and life-saving medicine.”
The bill is cosponsored by Senators Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and is endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee.
Senator Roberts’ bill repeals provisions of Obamacare that authorize federal bureaucrats to deny patients the ability to access care that may save their lives. The bill:
Repeals the “excess benefits” tax on comprehensive coverage thus allowing insurers to continue to provide coverage for plans that cover medical treatments that may be costly and increase plan costs but have been chosen by the patient and their doctor as a way to save a patient’s life;
Repeals provisions that would prevent plans from participating in the exchanges if they offer benefits that government bureaucrats arbitrarily deem “excessive or unjustified;”
Repeals the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). IPAB is made up of 18 unelected bureaucrats who will recommend what treatments and services health care providers are—and are not—allowed to give their patients; and,
Targets the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ authority to review insurance bids and to deny Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D bids—so that senior citizens can be prevented from making up for Medicare cuts with their own funds.
“Under Obamacare, Washington bureaucrats can dictate one uniform standard of health care that is designed to limit what private citizens are allowed to spend, with our own money, to save our own lives,” Roberts said. “This is not right.”
“Obamacare authorizes Washington bureaucrats to create one uniform, national standard of care that is designed to limit what private citizens are allowed to spend to save their own lives,” stated Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life. “We are convinced most Americans do not believe that the government should limit the right of Americans to use their own money for health insurance that is adequate to save their lives. We commend Senator Roberts for his bill and his consistent leadership to end Obamacare’s rationing.”
“Senator Pat Roberts, who has been a tireless campaigner for the right to life, has since 2009 repeatedly taken a leadership role in fighting rationing of life-saving medical treatment, food, and fluids,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Although Americans are waking up to many of its flaws, too few are aware of what Senator Roberts has consistently highlighted – how Obamacare limits the right to use one’s own money to get health insurance less likely to deny life-preserving health care.”
Earlier this year, Senator Roberts introduced the Restoring Access to Medication Act, which repeals the provision of Obamacare limiting a patients’ right to purchase over-the-counter products with their own money. He also introduced the Four Rationers Repeal Act, which repeals the Independent Payment Advisory Board; it repeals the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center; it repeals the changes made to the Preventive Services Task Force; and it makes sure any comparative effectiveness research is used by the doctor and the patient, not coverage providers or CMS, to determine the best care for patients.
Senator Roberts is an outspoken opponent of Obamacare. Senator Roberts is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance and is the ranking member of its Subcommittee on Health Care. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and is co-chairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus.
During the debate on Obamacare, Senator Roberts offered amendments to prohibit the use of comparative effectiveness research and supported all efforts to eliminate the four rationers. He voted against Obamcare in both Committees and on the Senate floor.
He also led the fight in the U.S. Senate to block the nomination of Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services due to his support for the use of comparative effectiveness research and rationing.