29 Apr 2013 Why Is IPAB M.I.A.?

The Independent Payment Advisory Board, also known affectionately as the death panel, may be in its early death throes.  From my article at the American Spectator:

If a government actuary conducts an analysis but the committee that is supposed to receive that analysis doesn’t exist, does the analysis make a sound?

The Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may soon be asking himself that question. Under Obamacare he is required to determine by this Tuesday, April 30, whether the projected growth rate in Medicare for 2015 will exceed the targeted Medicare growth rate. If the projected growth rate exceeds the target, then Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is supposed to develop a proposal to bring Medicare’s expenditures back in line with the target.

The only problem is that IPAB doesn’t yet exist.

That probably won’t be the only deadline IPAB will miss.