More on Death Panels

As i posted late last month, the death panel provision is still alive. Some where buried in the 1990 pages of bureaucracy is as AP news reports, "The provision allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and painful decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death."

The AP also reported that although it is not promoted or necessarily encouraged, assisted suicide is an option for patients.

As Former Gov. of Alaska Sarah Palin pointed out this past summer, the house bill at the time included a section that seemed very similar to death panels:

Section 1233 authorizes advanced care planning consultations for senior citizens on Medicare every five years, and more often “if there is a significant change in the health condition of the individual ... or upon admission to a skilled nursing facility, a long-term care facility... or a hospice program." During those consultations, practitioners must explain “the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice,” and the government benefits available to pay for such services.

Now 'death panels' are real, despite what people tell you. Go back to the Barbra Wagner story from the state of Oregon, which at the time had government run health care. She got a note from the hospital saying, that the drug she needed would cost $4,000 a month. Due to the cost the state refused to pay it. Now that meant that she would not get the cure she needed. However, the state and hospital did are to give here pills from her doctor that would kill her. Other wise know as, assisted suicide.