Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Obama and Dems Sneak in Dreaded Death Panels

Remember Sarah Palin's claim that the Health Care proposal would create "death panels"? And how John Boehner picked up the drum beat, rat-a-tat-tatting government-encouraged "eu-tha-nas-i-a"?

Remember how this colossal lie went viral and almost derailed hopes for Health Care reform of any kind? Remember how some on the left went viral in their criticism of Obama and the Democrats for not having a spine when they dropped the provision?

In a quiet little coup, "the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1."

Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.
Congressional supporters of the new policy, though pleased, have kept quiet. They fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009 when Republicans seized on the idea of end-of-life counseling to argue that the Democrats’ bill would allow the government to cut off care for the critically ill.
The final version of the health care legislation, signed into law by President Obama in March, authorized Medicare coverage of yearly physical examinations, or wellness visits. The new rule says Medicare will cover “voluntary advance care planning,” to discuss end-of-life treatment, as part of the annual visit.
Under the rule, doctors can provide information to patients on how to prepare an “advance directive,” stating how aggressively they wish to be treated if they are so sick that they cannot make health care decisions for themselves.
As mentioned on this blog a time or two, Obama doesn't seem to be one of those flamboyant types who likes to make big-production announcements before the cameras with 10 or 20 blind loyalists standing in formation around him. Nor does he have a propensity for disgracing himself by turning on the water works. Instead, his MO seems to be to work quietly behind the scenes with as little fanfare as possible. Yeah, he can be pretty "cool" alright.

23 comments:

  1. WOW!!! Doctors being paid to provide information to patients so that THEY, the patients, can make more informed decisions.

    What a radical, socialist, Marxist, communist idea. How dare he?

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  2. I know a man who is still haunted by the death of his mother, years ago -- she died in prolonged agony from an incurable illness, begging him to help her end it all -- but at that time any such intervention would have been treated as a serious crime. I think he wishes he had done it anyway.

    People who are at risk of finding themselves in such a position need to be given information about what options are technologically feasible, and given the chance to make their own decisions. It's only sadistic religious crazies, with their "sanctity of life" obsessions that they think should override free individual choice, who would think that to be evil.

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  3. JC: Zippety-do-dah. All of the above.

    Infidel: I totally agree but caution that those who take part in assisted suicide may also have some psychologoical residual effects after the fact. I saw it happen with the 2nd wife of Derick Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society, and a long-time close friend.

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  4. I'm sure that Mama Grifter will address this, very soon. Hell, Klan Brewer might even have something to say about it.

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  5. The right-wing will have a field day with this. Sadly. I am so tired of lies, distortion, ignorance, fearmongering, blah, blah, blah. Thanks for the heads-up on the story. BJ

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  6. Thank you!!! However, as I am heading to the doc today and suspect that I may be in for a hospital stay, I am somewhat frightened by this.

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  7. JR: I'm sure she will - the cow. Just remember, the more she opens her mouth, the more she shoots herself in that great gaping hole.

    BJ: I am too but I think even a lot of GOP voters are getting a little tired of the theatre.

    Kay: Good luck with this. Hopefully you'll leave the doc's with a upbeat report but keep us posted.

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  8. Thanx for the update Leslie as far as who is in charge of the "death panel's" these day's, difficult to keep up with who's in charge of what any more.

    I believe that the man Infodel is talking about as far as the death of his mother is me, which was a horrid experience watching her flesh basically rot for week's with me by her side, asking me to pull the plug ... I didnt though because I frankly was a coward to end my mother's life ... I talked to the doctor's for help on it ... they said of course she wasnt in her right mind because of all the drug's they had her on (she wasnt old either, still young and so was I). This particular illness was a slow and wretched death, by the time she did die still in ICU for over a month ... she actually looked like that teen girl Blair who was tied to the bed in the movie called the "Exorcist", and half out of her mind at the time, she too was restrained, basically ... they didnt have any death panel's, but it was a form of torture they put her through that I will never forget. After we buried her ... my father was sent a bill for $200,000 for his part of the payment, that the insurer's refused to pay, I'll never forget it.

    Thank You

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  9. RC: Sad. A horrible time for you and your dad, I'm sure. It's not an easy call but I do not want my family to watch me go through that nor do I want them to go through what you went through. It's something that lives in your memory forever. Needless pain at a huge expense as you know.

    Went through something similar with my mom but nearly as horrid as what you experienced. I'm sorry.

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  10. Excellent cartoon there. It perfectly depicts the situation created by fearmongering right wingers. I'm sure Limbaugh and Beck are about to go into overdrive on the new regulation. Their job will be made easier by the fact they can just make things up and spew with impunity.

    Good for Obama, for seeing to it this potentially helpful service will be available to more people.

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  11. SW: I wonder if the reason he let go of this in the HC reform bill was because he knew he could get it by as a new regulation for Medicare later.

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  12. This was reported recently: Arizona to request federal waiver to cut Medicaid. Republican Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona has refused to accept $15 million in matching federal funds to avoid paying $5 million on organ transplants. The health cuts put the lives of at least 98 people at immediate risk. In addition …

    … last year the Republican Legislature tried to cut Medicaid eligibility down to the federal minimum, which would have knocked 250,000 people off the rolls.

    Of course, we all know ‘end of life counseling” is NOT a death panel; but what shall we call Jan Brewer’s actions? Fiscal ax murder?

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  13. tnlib, that's entirely possible. I wish Obama could institute a public option alternative this way — and not just for a couple million but for everyone.

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  14. Octo: I called it Arizona's Death Panel when I wrote about it in Nov. What's particularly galling about this is that 98 low-income people had been told they would receive life-saving organ trasplants and then the rug was yanked out from under them.

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  15. S: That would be a good thing but I'm not sure it falls under the same kind of "regulation" thingy.

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  16. It is my understanding that Obama could lower the eligibility age for Medicare to zero years old by executive order. That would cover everyone. Of course there are some problems that would have to be addressed, like how to pay for it, but those are just details.

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  17. End-of-life counseling is simply sound, ethical medicine. In its absence, terminally ill patients get about two weeks of prolonged suffering at great emotional and financial cost.

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  18. This rejected my comment, so I will try one more time and shorten it. As I wrote in my "Healthcare SNOWEjob series" inpired title by Sen. Snowe and her "Trigger Plan" ... another scam I wrote in detail how it work's, we are going to see HCR be nothing but a monopoly to make a WalMart style community clinic to milk the masses and to regulate us more and them less, and to criminalize anyone who dont buy their plan's. This is so detailed, and frankly most people dont even see any of this (yet) but will in say a decade or so. I wrote "why" we are not likely to see a PO also, or even anything remotely similar ... do you think pharma and insurance giant's put $80 billion on the table for "reform" to see any even slight competition? Do you think they paid every Congress member before the draft (every member on both side's that is) almost $500,000 each, and each Senate member $1.4 million each to draft anything that even remotely advantage's to us? It actually came out like a carbon copy of what I wrote it might 2 year's ago. To think that anyone is going to do anything for us when our rep
    's get "bribed" by the very people who's attorney's write all the legislation that make's bribery "legal" for them and basically "illegal" for us is lunacy. We are also as I wrote now a "commodity" more than anything else ... the big prize of the future as I stated back then is the economic unification of China and India, and Russia will step in but be at financial war most likely with China in about a decade or so. I write this because so many seem to hope or think that we can get some slack on this, or that folk's are working in our interest and may give us something that is any kind of option on anything. They dont even care about America any more (the money that is) all they are out to do next ... is to take next our SSI which should start covertly within the next 2 year's because they already took our tax money and surplus and diverted it to their foreign investment's.

    Thank You Leslie

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  19. One more thing here if I may. What people think of as being a movement to reform HC was not actually even an idea created by people to reform HC ... it was a stealthy covertly planned marketing strategy implanted into the two dominating political parties, designed actually by the pharma/ insurance giant's believe it or not. To create divide/ partisanship as a political change strategy basically to change gvmnt as we know it, but was mainly designed to get billion's annually in tax revenue's that went to County/ Gvmnt hospital's in America for those million's who were uninsured in poorer urban area's. This enabled the giant's to "privatize" that and get "all" the tax revenue's that went to that, which are in the 10's of billion's, actually enormous, so you couldnt have a PO, because it would divert revenue's back into gvmnt sector's/ branches. Then the "must purchase" planned was designed as step two basically ... to make the purchase of the product mandatory by law. Step 3 was to be able to covertly divert the money as investment's offshore endeavor's, that will pay high interest and not be subject to any one countries law's, regulation's or oversight. The oversight panel's you do see being created are also designed by them, basically what you have as example is 100 companies that claim to compete and are individual entities, that are in actuality overviewed and watched by a panel of director's who are the CEO's of the companies, that are seperate as filing and by name for legal and tax purposes. Pushing HCR was nothing but a scam basically to get billion's annually that the gvmnt was getting to divert to offshore investment's. Of course most dont know this "yet" ... but it should come out within about a decade or so. That's why I stated in so many posting's, to be careful what you ask for, because guarantee that anything folk's ask for will be converted into something to milk us more and give us less basically. Understand how they "think" and stay one step ahead of them, because rest assured, they are "alway's" one step ahead of us. Too much to detail here ... but a sample. I posted most of this in my HCR series)

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  20. JC: I'm not sure how Executive Order works or where and how it can be applied, but one way we could pay for it is by decreasing the defense budget maybe?

    K: But too many fundamentalists attach all kinds of voodoo against it.

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  21. RC: So, what you're saying, I think, is that there should be no HCR?

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  22. No absolutely not Leslie, perhap's since I am NOT a writer as yourself and follower's I miswrote my point. ... We DEFINITELY NEED reform because of how fucked up and corrupt even the system is ... what I am saying is you wont get what you think or want unless you get rid of the existing pawn player's and stop playing and supporting them. Keep on getting distracted and focusing on pointless shit, and accepting what bone's are tossed to you in life will get you nowhere's simply. I am a survivor, so my thinking is more strategic is all. My thinking and tip's is not to make folk's wealthy ... but will make it so you never end up in the poorhouse simply.

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  23. This was simply to draw out the blueprint that was used and motive, I may add ... forewarned is simply forearmed. I pointed this out to show how the scam worked and bite, the objective and of course the result's. I reckon this kind of stuff for me is kind of a specialty .... I am one who know's how to make a buck fairly quick and easy you can say. :)

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