House Republican leadership has opted to offset the $3.1 billion cost of repealing the Medicare cost-cutting Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) with Rep. Phil Gingrey’s (R-GA) medical malpractice reform bill, an aide confirms.
The House is poised to vote on the bill next week.
The move runs the risk of alienating some of the Democrats — and perhaps 10th Amendment Republicans — who want to repeal IPAB but oppose federal caps on malpractice damage awards. But the legislation is widely expected to fail in the Democratic-led Senate either way.