On the radio show where they were just discussing this, they say Krugman released a 'clarifying' comment on Krugman's blog. My browser is acting weird but you might check there.
Yeah, he has something there. I'm not sure about copyright issues, so I'll not copy it here. Here's a link, you have to go down the heading "Death Panels and Sales Taxes."
He says he was talking about something, but "not really death panels, of course." He also says he's "said this before," implying that we weren't paying attention, and if we aren't going to pay attention to what he says, we shouldn't complain when we misunderstand him when he goes on television and states that what needs to happen is exactly what Sarah Palin has said will need to happen, only she was vilified for what she said.