Articles

Supreme Court won’t hear case challenging Obamacare’s “Platonic Guardians”

March 30, 2015 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

This morning, the Supreme Court declined to review the case challenging the constitutionality of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB. This is the group of unelected bureaucrats given authority to set Medicare reimbursement rates, whose “recommendations” automatically become law without any involvement by Congress, the Presid ...

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L.A. Times' Michael Hiltzik says Supreme Court should end IPAB

January 12, 2015 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

L.A. Times columnist Michael Hiltzik is an outspoken supporter of Obamacare. But in his Jan. 9 column, he agrees with PLF and our allies at the Goldwater Institute that the Independent Payment Advisory Board (the group of unaccountable “Platonic Guardians” that Obamacare puts in charge of the Medicare program) is just beyond the bounds ...

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PLF joins forces with members of Congress to fight Obamacare

December 04, 2014 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

This morning, we joined forces with over two dozen members of Congress to file a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case challenging the constitutionality of the Independent Payment Advisory Board provision of Obamacare. IPAB is the group of “Platonic Guardians” that are empowered to regulate Medicare spending–a boa ...

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The next big Obamacare case

May 19, 2014 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

On June 10, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the next big Obamacare lawsuit, Coons v. Geithner, which among other things challenges the constitutionality of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB. That’s the board of “Platonic Guardians” that will set Medicare reimbursement rates—and which is immune from jud ...

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Bart Hinkle : what color is the sun in Obamacare's world?

February 12, 2014 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Bart Hinkle wonders wonders about the Bizarro world of Obamacare, where penalties are taxes that aren’t bills for raising revenue, where a job is wage-slavery, but handouts are freedom, and where losing your job is a chance to pursue your dreams. One correction, however. Hinkle regards the allegation of  ...

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Obamacare's corrupting lawlessness

January 09, 2014 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

The cover story of the new issue of Regulation is my article, co-authored with Goldwater Institute attorney Christina Sandefur, on how Obamacare is doing violence to the basic principle of the rule of law. We argue that from the Supreme Court’s decision to recharacterize the law as a “tax,” to the violation of the constitutional ...

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President's weekly update — June 7, 2013

June 07, 2013 | By ROB RIVETT

Obamacare — Platonic Guardians We filed a friend of the court brief in Coons v. Geithner challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare’s “Independent Payment Advisory Board.” That’s the agency created by Obamacare that is charged with controlling Medicare reimbursement rates. But unlike any other agency Congress has e ...

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Still no IPAB nominees

April 30, 2013 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

The American Spectator points out that President Obama has still not nominated anyone to serve in the Independent Payment Advisory Board, the unconstitutional agency established by Obamacare to regulate Medicare reimbursement rates. His delay is significant because Obamacare’s scheduled to kick into high gear beginning in 2014, and the proces ...

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Why Kathleen Sebelius campaigns so hard for President Obama

October 10, 2012 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Cato’s Michael Cannon explains how Obamacare gives extreme and unprecedented powers to the Secretary of Health & Human Services. But IPAB isn’t just extreme, it’s also unconstitutional. For more on this illegal aspect of Obamacare, click here and here. … ...