‘Real death panels’ set to face heat in Congress, courts

The IPAB members have yet to be appointed, but each will make more than $160,000 a year in salary. Their salary is slated to come out of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, funds that pay for medical costs for some Medicare recipients. Annually, about $2.5 million that would normally cover Medicare patients’ medical costs would go toward paying the salaries of the 15 IPAB members.

The White House remains confident in IPAB’s constitutionality, and an administration official told TheDC the Obama administration expects the courts to rule in its favor.

“Just last week, a judge issued a schedule on our motion to dismiss this case,” the Obama administration official said in an e-mail to TheDC. “We look forward to making our arguments in court. We’re confident the Independent Payment Advisory Board is constitutional.”

The IPAB is scheduled to make its first recommendations by July 2014 and its first proposals are required to be implemented by 2015, assuming Obamacare is not fully repealed by then.

Ed. note: This article has been corrected: the President’s health care law does not prevent Congress, through its legislative power, from repealing IPAB.