Posted by
Always To The Right on Friday, August 14, 2009 4:29:17 PM
Leadership vacuum
Try reading the bill
NYT investigates “death panel” rumors, forgets to search its own archives
So as of April 2009 Obama himself expected the final legislation to
include some sort of group (but NOT a "death panel"!) that would
produce voluntary guidelines for end of life care with an eye towards
saving money.
HOW VOLUNTARY? And how voluntary will these imagined guidelines be? Doctors that are currently free to prescribe painkillers
volunteer not to, to avoid hassles from the DEA. Mightn't doctors
prefer to follow the "voluntary" end-of-life guidelines rather than
risk Federal examination of their taxes, expenses, hiring decisions,
and payroll? That would depend in large part on how aggressively the government chose to push the "voluntary" guidelines.
BY WAY OF CONTRAST: The Wall Street Journal editors think the death panel talk is "over the top" but opines that seniors have a point:
Elderly Americans are turning out in droves to fight ObamaCare, and
President Obama is arguing back that they have nothing to worry about.
Allow us to referee. While claims about euthanasia and "death panels"
are over the top, senior fears have exposed a fundamental truth about
what Mr. Obama is proposing: Namely, once health care is nationalized,
or mostly nationalized, rationing care is inevitable, and those who
have lived the longest will find their care the most restricted.