Roberts demands ‘bureaucrats’ stop ‘rationing’ healthcare

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said Tuesday that, if Republicans can’t fully repeal ObamaCare, they should at least fight to repeal “the rationing of healthcare.”

On the Senate floor Tuesday, Roberts introduced the Repeal Rationing in Support of Life Act, which he said would stop the Individual Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) from rationing healthcare.

{mosads}“Under ObamaCare, Washington bureaucrats can dictate one uniform standard of healthcare 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.”

Roberts said that under ObamaCare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, the IPAB can determine what treatments insurance companies will cover and which they won’t. He said decisions made by his “nemesis” could result in the rationing of life-saving treatments.

“ObamaCare has made many Americans fearful that cost-cutting and rationing of care will limit their options for healthcare 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.”

Roberts’ bill would repeal IPAB all together and stop the board from deeming some healthcare services as “excessive or unjustified.” He said, if Republicans can’t repeal the whole law, they should at least join him in trying to repeal part of it.

“Until we can accomplish full repeal, we at least need to make sure we’re protecting life-saving care,” Roberts said.

Democrats criticize Republican efforts to repeal the law, pointing out that it has already helped people with pre-existing conditions, those under age 26 who can stay on their parents’ plans and provided women with preventive care.