{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://jasonlewis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=114", "Lewis: supporting seniors' right to see their doctor", "2017-11-03", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "MN", "Jason Lewis", "L000587", "jasonlewis.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Lewis: supporting seniors' right to see their doctor \r\n   \r\n    \r\n       \r\n      \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      f \r\n      t \r\n      #\r\n      e\r\n      \r\n      \r\n    \r\n    \r\n      \r\n        Washington,\r\n        November 3, 2017\r\n      \r\n       \r\n    \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      \r\n      \r\n      WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Congressman Jason Lewis (MN-02) issued the following statement after voting for H.R. 849 \u2013 Protecting Seniors\u2019 Access to Medicare Act of 2017, as it passed the House:\r\n\u201cI voted yesterday with Republicans and Democrats to get rid of the Obamacare-established \u2018Independent Payment Advisory Board\u2019 (IPAB) \u2013 which could have unilaterally made sweeping changes to Medicare spending affecting millions of our seniors.\r\n\u201cThis board represented a huge bureaucratic overreach and was thankfully never put in place, but in order to preserve seniors\u2019 access to health care in the Second District, it was important that the House take action. While sensible reforms need to be made to ensure Medicare is still viable for seniors in the future, IPAB was a total misstep and I\u2019m glad to have been able to protect the doctor-patient relationship our seniors have through Medicare.\u201d\r\nBackground: H.R. 849 terminates the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) which has the unprecedented authority to unilaterally alter Medicare policy, could ultimately reduce seniors\u2019 access to health care, and puts the government at the center of our health care system.\r\nIPAB: \r\n \r\n    Puts the government \u2013 rather than patients and doctors \u2013 at the center of our health care system by allowing the board to unilaterally alter Medicate policy\u00a0 \r\n    Puts 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats \u2013 whose decisions can only be overridden by supermajority vote in Congress \u2013 in control of Medicare. If no board members are appointed, the HHS Secretary would be solely responsible for developing the legislation to cut Medicare to achieve the savings target.\r\n    Is free from judicial review and delegates far too much power to the Executive Branch\r\n    Calls for new cuts in addition to the more than $800 billion Obamacare took from Medicare to spend on new enrollment programs\r\n    While the current Medicare program is unstable, allowing a panel of bureaucrats to make critical health care decisions instead of patients and their families is the wrong approach\r\n    H.R. 849 is strongly bipartisan\u00a0\r\n \r\n  \r\n###\r\n    \r\n  \r\n  \r\n  \r\n    \r\n      f \r\n      t \r\n      #\r\n      e", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://jasonlewis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=114"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.519440207630396, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}