NYT
“Death panels” no more: HHS drops end-of-life regulation after outcry
The move is an abrupt shift, coming just days after the new policy took effect on Jan. 1.
Many doctors and providers of hospice care had praised the regulation, which listed “advance care planning” as one of the services that could be offered in the “annual wellness visit” for Medicare beneficiaries.
While administration officials cited procedural reasons for changing the rule, it was clear that political concerns were also a factor. The renewed debate over advance care planning threatened to become a distraction to administration officials who were gearing up to defend the health law against attack by the new Republican majority in the House.
Blowback
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Palin:31
DeathCult:0
portlandon on January 5, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Go Sarah!
promachus on January 5, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Like other undead entities (i.e., vampires), Death Panels keep coming back.
MassVictim on January 5, 2011 at 11:23 AM
HAW HAW HAW !!
stenwin77 on January 5, 2011 at 11:24 AM
It wouldn’t be “planning” under ObamaCare, it would be families being informed that their loved ones were to be sacrificed for the greater budgetary good of the nation.
Bishop on January 5, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Libs are so dumb yet think they’re geniuses. It’s funny and dangerous at the same time.
SirGawain on January 5, 2011 at 11:25 AM
Like watching one of those building implosions.
CAVE!
I guess that Dem representative from Oregon was right: celebrate, but don’t let word get out.
I hope Fox News runs this for a month.
BuckeyeSam on January 5, 2011 at 11:26 AM
“Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or to be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is in the way that it cares
for its helpless members.”
stenwin77 on January 5, 2011 at 11:27 AM
I can’t help thinking how quickly the Iranians got our hostages on a plane headed back to the US after Reagan got sworn in 30 years ago.
BuckeyeSam on January 5, 2011 at 11:30 AM
Someone should drop HHS. They are the true death panel.
upinak on January 5, 2011 at 11:32 AM
+100
portlandon on January 5, 2011 at 11:36 AM
I so wish Hot Air had a “Like” button to push next to each comment. On the other hand, I would have sprained a finger from hitting that icon so much on your comment.
itzWicks on January 5, 2011 at 11:38 AM
Apology to Sarah Palin from Dems in 5… 4… 3… 2… never.
Scrappy on January 5, 2011 at 11:38 AM
If they keep doing this they are going to start losing credibility. /sarc
ctmom on January 5, 2011 at 11:39 AM
That turn of phrase really left a mark at the White House, didn’t it?
They don’t spend any time thinking about Sarah Palin, though.
Hehehe.
Brian1972 on January 5, 2011 at 11:39 AM
Doctors and patients are going to discuss what treatments, if any, are best for them at the time that it is appropriate for the patient. No one ever needed the government sticking their nose into it.
Blake on January 5, 2011 at 11:39 AM
This is not the totality of what Palin referred to as “death panels.” She was making a broader point about government rationing of healthcare for the elderly and other, less productive members of society. The end-of-life counseling provisions were just one piece of the whole:
steebo77 on January 5, 2011 at 11:41 AM
But let’s keep an eye out for government “Life Panels” to see who gets to live.
scrubjay on January 5, 2011 at 11:42 AM
She was referring, in part, to the academic work of Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel, Rham’s brother.
Brian1972 on January 5, 2011 at 11:45 AM
How many times and ways has this administration tried to establish this? He’s not done.
Cindy Munford on January 5, 2011 at 11:45 AM
Here is what a lot of people do not know about HHS. They work with WHO (World Health Org) concerning anything to do with disease, healthcare and so on. Come to find out WHO has been screwing up left and right on certain disease, health problems etc… but the HHS has been going off the WHO “play book” forever. ICD10 book with HP is a good example of WHO and HHS “linking” together.
And anyone who doesn’t think that you are not checked into a system, even if you pay cash, is dumb. Everything you go into the Doc, Dentist… anything concerning anything medical is logged, but only in the government docs. Has been for yrs. I don’t trust HHS as far as I can throw them.
upinak on January 5, 2011 at 11:46 AM
This whole thing is nothing but a blatant money grab by doctors. Under this regulation, all a physician had to do was hand an old person a brochure about end of life planning and tell them to go home and read it. For that s/he would have been reimbursed $50. The opportunity for fraud and the potential cost of this provision were staggering.
rockmom on January 5, 2011 at 11:49 AM
Since when do we need the federal government to say what services can be offered? Or should this be read as what services can covered?
We seem to have an odd way of looking at medical care.
Esthier on January 5, 2011 at 11:52 AM
These people are as transparent as wet tissue paper.
Who do they think they’re fooling?
franksalterego on January 5, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Right, I think most people do this… What the gov’t wants now is for doctors to strong arm patients and talk them into ending treatments and dying faster to save money and that is a very slippery slope… It wont end with terminal patients…
CCRWM on January 5, 2011 at 11:52 AM
This is just a tactical sacrifice, not a strategic maneuver.
It’s like a lizard dropping it’s tail. But the tail isn’t the problem, it’s the lizard that we have to kill.
ZenDraken on January 5, 2011 at 11:55 AM
Kill the
billlizard!steebo77 on January 5, 2011 at 11:58 AM
End of life counseling is a red herring. The real death panel is in the council on comparative effectiveness or whatever it’s called.
Kafir on January 5, 2011 at 12:01 PM
There are many sickening things about Obamacare, but the one that hit me most recently is how “Death Panel Denial” has become a mainstream meme. I saw it just yesterday in a Scientific American article presented as a supposed example of right wing people believing things that just aren’t true.
The reality is that when you look forward in your life, you are tempted to think “Oh, I wouldn’t want to life like that,” but when you see relatives reach that point they turn out to have other things in their lives and they are quite happy.
pedestrian on January 5, 2011 at 12:02 PM
So for the second time, people scream death panel, we’re told that we’re silly for thinking that this has anything to do with rationing, and then the plans are withdrawn.
hawksruleva on January 5, 2011 at 12:11 PM
Sort of. If you’re a doctor who’s under constant pressure to reduce the number of procedures, because your hospital will only be paid for X number of procedures a year, then your end of life consult may be a bit different than it would otherwise be.
hawksruleva on January 5, 2011 at 12:13 PM
There are numerous studies that show just how flawing currently scientific medical research is. An unbiased view of the real effectiveness of all the different procedures would be most welcome and would save a huge amount of money. The problem is that with the federal government becoming the sole provider of health care, it now has a vested interest in finding specific outcomes. And that vested interest is the care and feeding of health care lobbyist in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
pedestrian on January 5, 2011 at 12:18 PM
Nicely put. Well, except for the “We”.
Dusty on January 5, 2011 at 12:25 PM
I have got to stop clicking on these NY Times links. Half the time they want me to log in (not gonna do it) and the rest of the time they say unbiased stuff like this. /s
yubley on January 5, 2011 at 12:27 PM
They’ve shown their true colors. This is just a temporary retreat, until they figure out another way to the same end.
flataffect on January 5, 2011 at 12:38 PM
This isn’t death panels. It’s bad, but not death panels. The board created by the Stimulus which will make “medical decisions” based on “best practices”…? That’s the Death Panels and they’re not gone.
The Mega Independent on January 5, 2011 at 12:42 PM
You know if my Dr had tried that after it was put into effect and I realized he was doing it just so he could apply for more money, I would walk out of his office. Any Dr worth his salt should be able to talk to a person about their health and risks and not about death panels.
This is a family thing and not a government one.
Bambi on January 5, 2011 at 12:42 PM
Yep.
angryed on January 5, 2011 at 12:58 PM
Agreed. Palin was not talking about this provision, she was talking about something even more sinister.
Whenever the government takes over the total distribution of anything, there will be rationing. Palin recognizes this, and fears that the rationing will be measured out by ‘quality of life’, meaning that one of her children might be excluded.
Here in Canada, the rationing doesn’t take that form, instead it is like the breadlines of the old Soviet Union. Long waits, with patients dying while waiting. An operation that can be arranged and performed within days in the US takes months in Canada. Doctor shortages. Months just for an appointment with a specialist. There are some bright spots (I have nothing but praise for the hospital where my wife had her recent operation, my complaint was the scheduled wait), but on the whole I’ve seen our level of care diminished.
When my doctor retired I put in an application for a new one. Luckily, I also went to the new doctor moving in to the old doctor’s office, and she took me on (I think I’m her only male patient). This was over a year ago – and last month I got a notice from the government saying they are still looking for a GP for me! I was lucky (maybe because I went outside the system), but I wonder how many others are not so lucky.
Right now some Canadian conservative blogs are headlining stories on US healthcare reform: “Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You!”
Johnny 100 Pesos on January 5, 2011 at 1:15 PM
And drop their $875 billion dollar budget to a more reasonable $87.50…
Oh wait, that would be a real, meaningful cut. For genuine savings, let’s slash NASA’s miniscule $2 billion dollar budget some more…
Friendly21 on January 5, 2011 at 1:17 PM
As long as the govt is involved in health care delivery … they will be involved in health care delivery. Birth, death, and in-between. How can it be otherwise?
“The govt is in charge, everyone is cared for, no one goes untreated, don’t bother with the details, like where is the money going to come from”.
This may relegate doctors to the lowest rung on the social ladder. They will be told who to treat, when, how, and why, and what they will be paid. They will be slaves.
We will never give everyone the same level of care. It’s a socialist, utopian fantasy.
Paul-Cincy on January 5, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Wait a minute…..if they aren’t “death panels” and are a very helpful provision for seniors, etc., why drop it?
Because they were what they were and they got CAUGHT. They know it was a lousy thing to do. Paying doctors to “nudge” folks into the grave earlier.
Score one for Sarah Palin.
What can they left say now? Once they dropped it, it can only be seen as an admission of guilt.
Opposite Day on January 5, 2011 at 1:32 PM
Way to cut a reasonable benefit from Medicare, guys. That’ll show those Republicans.
RightOFLeft on January 5, 2011 at 1:42 PM
THOSE arent the real death panels anyway. Never have been. The real death panels are the bureaucrats empowered by Obamacare to decide which treatments you can have, and which treatments you cant based on cost benefit analysis and rationing. For example they already wont let you have certain cancer medications because they are too expensive and only buy you a limited amount of time and that money could much better be used to buy some unwed mother her 14th abortion.
THAT is what a death panel is. The government choosing which treatments will even be made available for you in the first place and which wont — and many wont. And you have no say in the matter.
American Elephant on January 5, 2011 at 1:49 PM