Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Yay! Death Panels

When the opponents to Obamacare were trying to come up with ways to make it sound scary, they thought up "death panels". It is the job of these panels, they claimed, to review whose granny gets her plug pulled to save money to care for the next person. What was actually in the legislation is a provision that would pay for a person to consult their doctor about what they would like done should they ever end up a vegetable and unable to make decisions about their own care. They would see their doctor, the doctor would tell them their options, be it staying on life support indefinitely or a DNR, and Obama's health care package would cover that doctor visit.

Opponents of this cite Terri Schiavo as an example of its dangers, but, ironically, if Terri Schiavo had had this option, she could have gotten her wishes down on record, and could possibly still be alive today. Fortunately, it looks like this consultation will be covered by Medicare as of January 1st despite the ridiculous opposition against it.

No comments: