The Daily Caller posted an article today about the “Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act” (MACR). The bill bears a striking resemblance to the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a part of ObamaCare designed to cut Medicare costs.

The article explains:

The new payment system MACR creates for Medicare is eerily similar to the IPAB model. Dubbed the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), it will reward or penalize physicians who treat Medicare patients based on various metrics. Two of the metrics that MIPS will use to grade physicians are how well physicians’ patients score on quality measures and how many medical resources physicians use to treat patients. Under MIPS, a physician will receive a composite score, between zero and 100, based on how well he meets the MIPS criteria. Each year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will choose a “threshold” number. If a physician minimizes the use of medical resources while his patients score well on quality measures, he will likely score above that threshold and he will receive a bonus. If he scores below it, he will be penalized with a cut to his Medicare reimbursement.

The intent behind MIPS is consistent with the IPAB mission of lowering Medicare’s cost growth and improving quality. The quality measures and resource use components of MIPS are supposed to promote those goals by rewarding physicians who provide quality care at a lower cost.

Under the new rules, doctors will be encouraged to use the majority of their resources on patients who are moderately ill. To treat too many seriously sick patients will lower a doctor’s “threshold” number and cut his Medicare reimbursement.

The article concludes:

One of the goals of MACR, eliminating the unworkable Sustainable Growth Rate, is a worthy one. Getting rid of this perennial problem, however, should not come by way of a new payment system that will make it harder for sicker patients to obtain physician care. The Senate should remove MIPS. Otherwise, lawmakers risk installing an IPAB-style payment system in Medicare.

Very few people will argue that we need to cut the cost of medical care in America. However, I don’t believe most Americans want to do it at the expense of our chronically ill or aging citizens. This is not the way to cut medical expenses. A free-market system with less government intervention would be much more efficient and have the effect of cutting expenses for everyone.