Medicare meets Obamacare

The purpose of an elected official is to have a representative in Congress that will speak the will of their constiuents. From what I hear, some elected officials think it means they get to speak the will of the party, leaving many of us feeling uninvited and certainly not represented.

Congress believes that an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) should not be filled with 15 unelected bureaucrats. The panel would have the power to enforce payment reductions on insurers, pharmaceutical companies and service providers if Medicare costs continue to rise. These panel members would be approved by Congress, but it appears that the sand kicking continues and the GOP has told Obama that no one crosses that line in the sand. 

I have to ask myself, why? Why not have an unelected panelist? What has all the voting done for us lately? Let's go one further, let's make sure that this Advisory Board, is filled with seniors, the people who will be directly impacted by the decisions made regarding Medicare benefits. 

We are told this panel would limit, prohibit and ration provider payments for certain medical procedures. Furthermore, this will result in higher costs, more taxes and less choice. Really? It seems that's where we are right now and nothing appears to be changing.

My thoughts run to my Meals on Wheels clients, who at one time were able to get a hot meal once a day, which meant they could afford their medications. So many of these vulnerable seniors feel they have no voice and merely wait for the next axe to drop. The sequester has cut funding to Meals on Wheels, where will the next cut be? It certainly hasn't provided more Medicare benefits.

These ongoing debates will not affect a generation staring down the barrel of Social Security and Medicare. As we are repeatedly told not to worry, Congress reminds us that the affects will ripple down to future generations. Precisely why we need a panel of intelligent, non-party affliated, savvy seniors to keep Congress from this tug of war and get the job done. Our generation cares what happens to the next. Those are our kids. Tell me what parent doesn't want better for their kids. This does not sound better. It sounds like the same old story.

Truth is not the wisdom of Washington. But as any ground troops will tell you, it's what's on the ground that tells the true story. If the map doesn't fit the ground, the map is wrong. Just because some of these Congress men have a bit of grey around the ears, doesn't mean they have a clue about the life of a senior on Medicare. How about they give an unelected American citizen the opportunity to decide their own health care fate?

 Image: flickr by 401(K) 2013