Heck, Amodei join vote to overturn Medicare cost board

WASHINGTON -- U.S. House members from Nevada voted along party lines Thursday on repealing a Medicare cost-control board that has become one of the lightning rods of health care reform.

Republican Reps. Joe Heck and Mark Amodei joined the GOP majority in a 223-181 vote to withdraw the Independent Payment Advisory Board.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted against repeal.

Amodei said he feared the cost board, whose 15 members would be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, would not be accountable and would cut Medicare rates to levels so low as to threaten care.

"Provisions like IPAB suggest that those who voted to pass ObamaCare didn't read the bill or they didn't want Americans to know what was in it," he said.

Heck said: "Nevada's seniors don't want unelected, unaccountable Washington bureaucrats coming between them and the Medicare services they rely on."

Berkley also had been opposed to the board, contending it took away authority over Medicare rates that should remain with Congress. But when Republican provisions were added that could limit awards in medical malpractice cases, she voted against the repeal bill.

"I cannot support this measure because it includes a politically motivated poison pill that undermines basic protections for patients across the country," Berkley said in a statement after the vote.

Berkley added that she also rejected "over-the-top attacks by some Washington Republicans against proponents of the board," a reference her staff said was to descriptions of the cost board as a "death panel" that would ration health care.

The board was created in the sweeping reform law, which turns 2 years old today. It is designed to keep Medicare in check by forcing cuts on health providers if costs exceed certain levels and Congress fails to react.

The vote immediately became fodder in Nevada's contested races for federal office, including Berkley's bid for U.S. Senate and Heck's campaign for re-election to the House.

By voting to sustain the Medicare cost board, Berkley would "allow Washington bureaucrats to deny care for seniors," said a spokeswoman for her opponent, Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.

Meanwhile, Democrats pushed against Heck. The party's campaign arm for House elections said Heck voted "to undermine Medicare" by repealing cost controls.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.