Medicare Spending and the Independent Payment Advisory Board

Among some proponents of health care reform, a major impetus for reform, in additional to improving quality and increasing access, has been the rising cost of the Medicare program. In response, in part, to overall growth in Medicare program expenditures and growth in expenditures per Medicare beneficiary, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), created the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), and charged the Board with developing proposals to "reduce the per capita rat...