As if facing "end of life" health care decisions weren't stressful enough by their own right -- It seems Republicans are bound and determined to scare Americans witless, by implying quite blunting, that Obamacare wants to kill you ... Woooh! queue the spooky music ...
Republican National Committee Chair Revives Death Panel Smear Against Obamacare
by Ian Millhiser, thinkprogress.org -- August 11, 2013
On Sunday, CNN’s State of the Union invited Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus to offer what turned out to be little more than a dump of Republican talking points opposing the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare is “European, socialist style-type health care,” Priebus told CNN. He even claimed that Republicans — who have now voted to repeal Obamacare’s protections for people with preexisting conditions 40 different times — are the true defenders of people who are unable to obtain health insurance without health reform. And then he dropped the death panels line — “what people don’t want are government panels deciding whether something’s medically necessary.” [Video]
Priebus’ decision to drop this line without any context whatsoever represents an innovation in Republican messaging against providing health care to millions of Americans. The “death panel” smear originally emerged on former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) Facebook page, and was widely viewed at the time as an attack on a bipartisan proposal to enable Medicare to cover voluntary end-of-life counseling. After that proposal was dropped from the bill that ultimately became the Affordable Care Act, several Republicans — including Palin once again — retconned the term “death panels” to refer to a cost-cutting measure known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board or IPAB.
[...]
Reince can raise the ghost of elections-past, but does he and his party,
actual have any solutions of their own, when it comes to providing affordable and universal care, at the times of the patients' greatest need?
Republicans, like Priebus certainly know how to bitch -- which only serves to hide the fact, that they have No Clue how to Fix ...
And what Republicans can't fix with shallow rhetoric, they will do the damnest to make sure nobody else does either, with their "Government Effectiveness" programs:
'Death panels' done right
A provision to help patients make their own choices about end-of-life treatment is back.
by The Times editorial board -- August 1, 2013
Among the most egregious distortions to cloud the healthcare debate in 2009 was the false notion that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act called for "death panels," through which the government would determine whether seniors and the disabled should receive care. So dishonest was this characterization, popularized by Alaska's then-Gov. Sarah Palin, that PolitiFact named it the "Lie of the Year."
In truth, one of the provisions of the act that gave rise to Palin's critique would have done just the opposite: help patients make their own decisions about their treatment at the end of life. But it was removed from the bill in the heat of the death panel rhetoric. Now it is back as part of HR 1173, introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) with 17 bipartisan cosponsors.
The bill requires that Medicare and Medicaid cover the cost of voluntary end-of-life consultations every five years and more often if there is a significant change in health status. Conversations about treatment decisions in the final stages of life take time, so it's important that insurers cover one-on-one consultations with physicians. By offering coverage more than once, the proposal recognizes that advanced care preferences change depending on age and health. At its core, the bill affords individuals greater choice in what are often the most sensitive decisions a person will make in his or her lifetime.
[...]
Well that covers the moral argument:
1) End-of-life consultations are voluntary.
2) They are paid for, if any patient, irrespective of their financial means, so chooses to intellectually access, and plan for, their various medical options. As the inevitable face the winding down of the clock.
3) The GOP scary-movie idea to name this as a Death Panel, was previously ranked as "Lie of the Year."
So what about crass political argument, that lies behind the specter of Death Panels II -- well it seems Paul Krugman has that one covered:
Death Panels and the Apparatchik Mindset
by Paul Krugman, NYTimes.com -- August 10, 2013
[...]
[Aaron] Carroll points us to the actual staff recommendation, which is far milder than the WSJ blast would have you believe. But as Carroll points out, the larger point is the absurdity of the Journal’s position. On one side, it’s fanatically opposed to Medicaid expansion — that is, it’s eager to make sure that millions have no health coverage at all. On the other side, it claims to be outraged at the notion of setting priorities in spending on those who do manage to qualify for Medicaid. It’s OK for people to die for lack of coverage; it’s an utter horror if taxpayers decline to pay for marginal care.
And yes, we’re talking about taxpayers. Nobody at all is talking about rationing the care you may choose to buy for yourself; if Rupert Murdoch wants to spend $100 million on a treatment that probably won’t work, but might prolong his life by a few weeks, he’s perfectly free to do so. The real policy question is simply whether taxpayers should be obliged to do the same for everyone — and the answer is obviously no.
Now, the Journal isn’t really confused on this point. Surely it understands the difference between rationing care and limiting public spending on care. The point, however, is to confuse readers, and make them think that spending controls on Medicaid are the same thing as having bureaucrats pronounce death sentences on the middle class.
[...]
More excellent points there Mr. Krugman.
1) Republicans feign Outrage when their own lassie-fair solutions would result in even LESS care, being given.
2) Having NO guaranteed affordable Health Care (as Republicans propose), results in the MORE premature Deaths of Patients -- Not fewer.
3) The Wall Street Journal editors know exactly what they're doing. They're not stupid, they're just simply throwing-in the latest Republican last-ditch effort to obscure and obfuscate what Obamacare will actually do for people.
It's their last gasp effort, because once the Affordable Care Act delivers on its promised cost reductions, they know that the GOP will be exposed for the do-nothing, bankrupt, chain-rattling party, that they truly are.
Desperate politicians, do desperate things -- just ask Reince Priebus and Republican House who greatest achievement, is voting to refuse Health Care to over 30 Million Amercans -- at least 40 times.
Exposing THAT party platform to the plain light of day -- is the scariest prospect they can imagine, with respect to their own political careers. Because once people start to say:
"Keep your hands off my Obamacare!"
Once that happens, well their chain-rattling jig will finally be up.
Woooh! queue the see-later music ...