Democrats Looking For "Death Panels"
DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz appeared on Face The Nation yesterday where she was asked whether the Democrats had any plan at all to save Medicare from impending bankruptcy. She responded:
Like I said, the Republicans have a plan to end Medicare as we know it. What they would do is they would take the people who are younger than 55 years old today and tell them You know what? You’re on your own. Go and find private health insurance in the healthcare insurance market, we’re going to throw you to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and drop you for pre-existing conditions. We’re going to give you X amount of dollars and you figure it out.
This response, which you'll note didn't mention any Democrat plan to save Medicare, is pure demagoguery. And completely untrue. Obama's Medicare plan is to have a board of 15 bureaucrats decide which treatments would be covered at what price, with no freedom of choice for seniors and, oh yeah, it wouldn't prevent Medicare's looming insolvency. The GOP plan is to save Medicare by giving seniors a range of guaranteed insurance options, provide them with a subsidy to help fund them, and let them decide which one works for them. Those most in need would get the most help.
There's a lot more to the plan, of course, but reporters need to be familiar enough with the basics that they can follow-up better with Democrats who want to demagogue this issue.
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Comments :
Jan '11
Re: Democrats Looking For "Death Panels"
You're assuming that the reporters care to ask follow up questions of the Democrats, rather than just carry water for them.
Jan '11
Re: Democrats Looking For "Death Panels"
Ajax beat me to it.
Mar '11
Re: Democrats Looking For "Death Panels"
It's amazing how someone as stupid and uneducated as SWCNBN pointed out the inevitability of "death panels" some time ago..
Paul Ryan has done an excellent job of explaining all this - I hope the electorate as a whole are not gonna fall for the Democrat/media demagoguery, or else we are all destined to meet the "death panels", or even the death panels.
Edited on May 30, 2011 at 10:36amSep '10
Re: Democrats Looking For "Death Panels"
When I was in med school in 1978, Lester Thurow authored "Medicine vs. Economics" in the NEJM. He pointed out that everyone is now a candidate for a final catastrophic illness (even more true today), and we can easily consume 25% or more of the total lifetime wealth production of every person during the last few months of life. It is thus clear that we cannot afford all of the marginally beneficial care which we know how to provide.
This also implies that it is impossible to indemnify against risk of illness throughout life. We can only afford to indemnify against the premature occurrence of a disease up until a certain age. For end of life care, then, one must save. Today, one commands expenditure of other people's resources (Medicare). This leaves the choice: who shall decide how much to spend to stay alive at end of life? Distant bureaucrats spending other people's money, or ourselves allocating scarce savings between ourselves and our heirs? The "social justice" crowd chooses the former, in the name of equality - and lies about the rationing which will fall on everyone, save those who can afford offshore care. That will be big business!
Edited on May 30, 2011 at 9:27amJul '10
Re: Democrats Looking For "Death Panels"
The one thing Republicans will not mention, yet is the most pervasive regarding the Democrat's approach, is that once a government board makes a decision THAT'S IT!
Recourse? ZERO!
If a private company makes a decision, you always have recourse. All the way up to raising the money yourself and paying for it directly.
That is why Sarah Palin refered to these boards of bureaucrats as Death Panels. Because once they decide you die, you die! (But without all the Press Hoopla surrounding the decision.)