CATO INSTITUTE: ‘Nuclear Option’ Does Enable Democrats To Ensure One-Party Authoritarian Control of Health Care

By Michael F. Cannon

This article appeared on Forbes.com on November 25, 2013.

Last week, I explained that the U.S. Senate’s deployment of the “nuclear option” — lowering the threshold for approval of non-Supreme Court presidential nominees from 60 votes to 51 votes — does not make it easier for President Obama to use ObamaCare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board. I need to add this caveat: during his tenure. The nuclear option does enhance the ability of the president and his party to control the health care sector well after he leaves office.

It’s true that the rules change will make it easier for the president to have his IPAB nominees approved by the Senate, particularly through January 2015, when the Democratic caucus holds 55 seats. But if the president and Senate fail to seat anyone on the IPAB, the board’s sweeping legislative powers fall to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If President Obama wants to use IPAB’s powers during his term, therefore, he need only retain Kathleen Sebelius as his HHS secretary.

ObamaCare permits IPAB to exercise its powers, however, only if Medicare’s actuaries project the program’s outlays will grow faster than a specified rate. A number of readers note that Medicare’s actuaries reported earlier this year that their projections currently do not show Medicare spending exceeding that target rate, and that their projections likely will not do so during the remainder of President Obama’s term. Those projections and the resulting determination could change next year. If so, and if the president and Senate have not placed confirmed any IPAB members, Secretary Sebelius could use IPAB’s powers during President Obama’s term. Those powers include the ability to raise taxes, to ration care to Medicare enrollees, and to appropriate funds to her own department, without the consent of the people’s elected representatives. (Critics will object that IPAB has none of these powers. In this study, Diane Cohen and I explain why we think they are incorrect.) Sebelius’ “proposal” would take effect during 2016.

PLEASE READ MORE:  http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/nuclear-option-does-enable-democrats-ensure-one-party-authoritarian-control?utm_source=Cato+Institute+Emails&utm_campaign=5e45bb1a43-Cato_Today&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_395878584c-5e45bb1a43-141723190&mc_cid=5e45bb1a43&mc_eid=2653a08a51

IS THIS THE ALARMING REASON KATHLEEN SEBELIUS HASN’T BEEN FIRED?

TheBlaze

November 25,2013

Michael F. Cannon, the Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies, has recently been warning Americans about the ramifications of the U.S. Senate unleashing the “nuclear option” and what it means for the nation’s healthcare industry.

Much of it is related to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) which some, including Glenn Beck, have likened to “death panels.”

Speaking on the Glenn Beck Program Monday, Cannon explained that IPAB “has the power to do all sorts of things that really the Constitution leaves to Congress, like enact or impose taxes…”

“This is supposed to be a 15-member board, but if no one is seated on that board — if the president and the Senate cannot agree on whom the president will appoint… then all of IPAB’s powers fall, all of those legislative powers, fall to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius,” he said.

VIDEO AND MORE:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/25/is-this-the-alarming-reason-kathleen-sebelius-hasnt-been-fired/

Tea Party Patriots

12 Days of Solutions - Downsizing Government

December 13, 2012

Right now, Washington is discussing how many billions of your hard-earned incomes don’t belong to you. Rather than cut spending, your elected officials want to increase your taxes.

When it comes to balancing the budget, hard choices must be made across the entire federal government’s budget. Downsizinggovernment.org, a project of the libertarian think tank, has outlined ways to cut well over 10% of the federal budget through devolving of the federal government’s powers back to the states and elimination of certain federal spending. These include reforms to subsidies, the Defense Department, Transportation, and many other agencies and spending.

Unfortunately, it seems that Republicans and Democrats alike are okay with taking your money to make up for their corruption and errors with the federal budget. We urge you to call your Member of Congress and tell him or her to instead consider Cato’s great work, and begin returning federal spending to that to which it is limited in the Constitution.

Go to http://www.teapartypatriots.org for more information.

The CATO Institute Finds That The Fed Must Be Abolished

Ending the Fed is the only hope America now has. The outcome will be painful, but it will be surmountable. The alternative is the unquestionable end of America's status as a superpower.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/cato-institute-finds-fed-must-be-abolished