WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Rick Crawford voted to repeal the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board or IPAB provision of President Obama’s healthcare bill that passed Congress in 2010. The repeal of IPAB was part of the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act that Crawford co-sponsored and that passed the House of Representatives today.

“Arkansas’s First Congressional District is home to many senior citizens who rely on Medicare to see their doctor and get their prescriptions filled,” said Crawford. “The Independent Payment Advisory Board has the real threat of limiting seniors’ access to doctors and medicine. I will not stand idly by while the IPAB Board of 15 unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats try to limit Arkansas seniors’ access to Medicare.”

The Independent Payment Advisory Board is a provision of President Obama’s healthcare bill that would create a board of 15 unelected members who would have the power to limit access to Medicare benefits. Crawford’s vote today would repeal the IPAB provision in the healthcare law and ensure that seniors have access to Medicare services.

“Medicare is a promise made to seniors who have paid into the program for years. I am working in Congress to strengthen Medicare for today’s seniors and so that next generation of Americans can enjoy this program. Passage of the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act will give seniors citizens in Arkansas the security of knowing that their Medicare benefits will not be denied by faceless bureaucrats,” said Crawford.