Posted on 09/08/2009 1:47:43 PM PDT by DB9
Sarah Palin couldn’t attend today’s New York State Senate public hearing of the Aging Committee — chaired by pro-life Democrat Ruben Diaz — but she submitted testimony which has been provided to NRO:
Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Chair, New York Senate Aging Committee Legislative Office Building Room 307 Albany, NY 12247
Transmitted via email to: diaz@senate.state.ny.us
September 8, 2009
RE: H.R. 3200: America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 and Its Impact on Senior Citizens
Dear Senator Diaz,
Thank you for asking me to participate in the New York State Senate Aging Committee’s hearing regarding H.R. 3200, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.” You and I share a commitment to ensuring that our health care system is not “reformed” at the expense of America’s senior citizens.
I have been vocal in my opposition to Section 1233 of H.R.3200, entitled “Advance Care Planning Consultation.”[1] Proponents of the bill have described this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to Medicare recipients. That is misleading. The issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context.
Section 1233 authorizes advanced care planning consultations for senior citizens on Medicare every five years, and more often “if there is a significant change in the health condition of the individual ... or upon admission to a skilled nursing facility, a long-term care facility... or a hospice program.”[2] During those consultations, practitioners are to explain “the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice,” and the government benefits available to pay for such services.[3]
To understand this provision fully, it must be read in context. These consultations are authorized whenever a Medicare recipient’s health changes significantly or when they enter a nursing home, and they are part of a bill whose stated purpose is “to reduce the growth in health care spending.”[4] Is it any wonder that senior citizens might view such consultations as attempts to convince them to help reduce health care costs by accepting minimal end-of-life care? As one commentator has noted, Section 1233 “addresses compassionate goals in disconcerting proximity to fiscal ones.... If it’s all about obviating suffering, emotional or physical, what’s it doing in a measure to ‘bend the curve’ on health-care costs?”[5]
As you stated in your letter to Congressman Henry Waxman of California:
Section 1233 of House Resolution 3200 puts our senior citizens on a slippery slope and may diminish respect for the inherent dignity of each of their lives.... It is egregious to consider that any senior citizen ... should be placed in a situation where he or she would feel pressured to save the government money by dying a little sooner than he or she otherwise would, be required to be counseled about the supposed benefits of killing oneself, or be encouraged to sign any end of life directives that they would not otherwise sign.[6]
It is unclear whether section 1233 or a provision like it will remain part of any final health care bill. Regardless of its fate, the larger issue of rationed health care remains.
A great deal of attention was given to my use of the phrase “death panel” in discussing such rationing.[7] Despite repeated attempts by many in the media to dismiss this phrase as a “myth”, its accuracy has been vindicated. In the face of a nationwide public outcry, the Senate Finance Committee agreed to “drop end-of-life provisions from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly.”[8] Jim Towey, the former head of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, then called attention to what’s already occurring at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, where “government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care.”[9] Even Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, a strong supporter of President Obama, agreed that “if the government says it has to control health care costs and then offers to pay doctors to give advice about hospice care, citizens are not delusional to conclude that the goal is to reduce end-of-life spending.”[10] And of course President Obama has not backed away from his support for the creation of an unelected, largely unaccountable Independent Medicare Advisory Council to help control Medicare costs; he had previously suggested that such a group should guide decisions regarding “that huge driver of cost . . . the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives….”[11]
The fact is that any group of government bureaucrats that makes decisions affecting life or death is essentially a “death panel.” The work of Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, President Obama’s health policy advisor and the brother of his chief of staff, is particularly disturbing on this score. Dr. Emanuel has written extensively on the topic of rationed health care, describing a “Complete Lives System” for allotting medical care based on “a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.”[12] He also has written that some medical services should not be guaranteed to those “who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens.... An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.”[13] Such ideas are shocking, but they could ultimately be used by government bureaucrats to help determine the treatment of our loved ones. We must ensure that human dignity remains at the center of any proposed health care reform. Real health care reform would also follow free market principles, including the encouragement of health savings accounts; would remove the barriers to purchasing health insurance across state lines; and would include tort reform so as to potentially save billions each year in wasteful spending connected to the filing of frivolous lawsuits. H.R. 3200 is not the reform we are looking for.
Thank you for calling attention to this important matter. I look forward to working with you again to ensure that we keep the dignity of our senior citizens foremost in any health care discussion.
Sincerely,
Governor Sarah Palin
1 See http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf 2 See HR 3200 sec. 1233 (hhh)(1); sec. 1233 (hhh)(3)(B)(1), above. 3 See HR 3200 sec. 1233 (hhh)(1)(E), above. 4 See http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf 5 See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080703043.html 6 See http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/letter-congressman-henry-waxman-re-section-1233-hr-3200 7 See http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=113851103434 8 See http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/54617-finance-committee-to-drop-end-of-life-provision 9 See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html 10 See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/10/AR2009081002455.html 11 See http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03Obama-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1 12 See http://www.scribd.com/doc/18280675/Principles-for-Allocation-of-Scarce-Medical-Interventions 13 See http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Where_Civic_Republicanism_and_Deliberative_Democracy_Meet.pdf
The shot across the bow in August is now the Greek fire levelled at the mainmast and crow’s nest of Obama’s healthcare bill threatening to bring it down and burn it beyond recognition.
Nicely done. This is a woman of action.
BAM with the right hand....(nice job Sarah)
A great deal of attention was given to my use of the phrase “death panel” in discussing such rationing.[7] Despite repeated attempts by many in the media to dismiss this phrase as a “myth”, its accuracy has been vindicated. In the face of a nationwide public outcry, the Senate Finance Committee agreed to “drop end-of-life provisions from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly.”[8] Jim Towey, the former head of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, then called attention to what’s already occurring at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, where “government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care.”[9] Even Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, a strong supporter of President Obama, agreed that “if the government says it has to control health care costs and then offers to pay doctors to give advice about hospice care, citizens are not delusional to conclude that the goal is to reduce end-of-life spending.”[10] And of course President Obama has not backed away from his support for the creation of an unelected, largely unaccountable Independent Medicare Advisory Council to help control Medicare costs; he had previously suggested that such a group should guide decisions regarding “that huge driver of cost . . . the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives….”[11]
Ping for Sarah!
We need more like her to keep this crap health bill out in the light for all to see!
Sarah ping
Hopefully this goes viral just in time for the Messiah’s speech tomorrow night so that, once again, she puts him on the defensive. Is it just me or is she the only one out there who has the ability to slam Obama and isn’t afraid to do so?
She has this posted on Facebook too.
http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin#/sarahpalin?v=app_2347471856&viewas=0
....Hopefully this goes viral just in time for the Messiah’s speech tomorrow night so that, once again, she puts him on the defensive. Is it just me or is she the only one out there who has the ability to slam Obama and isn’t afraid to do so?..
The obamaites and their cultists all dismiss Sarah Palin as “stupid”, “uneducated”, “ignorant”, “inept”, etc.
If she is any of those things, than why do the obamaites’ go ballistic at everything she says or does?
I have a piece of advice, however, for Sarah Palin, whom I like very much. She should read “Truman”, by David McCollough, and see how Harry Truman, despite his lack of a college education, learned enough to effectively serve as President. A big part of it was reading lots and lots of history.
And Sarah—and other decent candidates who aspire to restore a REAL American government—accept no advisors from the Council on Foreign Relations!!!!
AWESOME STATEMENT SARAH!! She ROCKS!! She hit the nail on the head time and time again. It’s a shame others in the GOP won’t stand up and defend her statements, instead they call her crazy and say that death panels don’t exist..They DO exist, and under DeathCare, it will be an everyday occurrence
And if she joins the Tea Party on 9/12, it will be a supercavitating torpedo aimed straight at the powder magazine.
First things first: as Governor, I love my job and I love Alaska. It hurts to make this choice but I am doing what's best for Alaska. I've explained why... though I think of the saying on my parents' refrigerator that says "Don't explain: your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway."
But I have given my reasons... no more "politics as usual" and I am taking my fight for what's right - for Alaska - in a new direction.
Now, despite this, I don't want any Alaskan dissuaded from entering politics after seeing this REAL "climate change" that began in August... no, we NEED hardworking, average Americans fighting for what's right! And I will support you because we need YOU and YOU can effect change, and I can too on the outside.
We need those who will respect our Constitution where government's supposed to serve from the BOTTOM UP, not move toward this TOP DOWN big government take-over... but rather, will be protectors of individual rights - who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it's time so the team can win! And that is what I'm doing!
Remember Alaska... America is now, more than ever, looking North to the Future. It'll be good. So God bless you, and from me and my family - to ALL Alaska - you have my heart.
And we will be in the capable hands of our Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell. And Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will assume the role of Lieutenant Governor. And it is my promise to you that I will always be standing by, ready to assist. We have a good, positive agenda for Alaska.
In the words of General MacArthur said, "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction." -Sarah, 7/9/09
859,209 Sarah Palin Facebook supporters right now
Go Sarah!
Ping
I really really hope she can attend. I can understand her not being able to go to New York and speak before the committee, but if she can come to Washington D.C, and maybe give a speech, it would just be SO SO SO AWESOME!! Sarah wants the tea party movement to be about the people and not her, so even if she does not speak, if she can show up and be amongst the people, that would be enough too, or even post on facebook for everyone to attend their own tea parties that would be great too
Hurrah, for Sarah, but she isn’t the only one slamming Bozo, Glen Beck right now is placing serious doubt on the credibility of Bozo, he is great to watch actually and he showed some more clips of Jones, refuting the “I’m being smeared” rhetoric Jones made during his resignation speech. I will definitely vote for Sarah if she runs, and I hope she does. BTW, anyone who reads this letter of hers and still thinks she is stupid needs a brain transplant.
“And if she joins the Tea Party on 9/12...”
Has anyone explicitly invited her?
Remember, seniors have already been PRE-paying into medicare all their working years =
” And 60-year-olds could be charged five times as much for a policy as 20-year-olds. “
and this - keep in mind, this is part of the “compromise’ proposal -
“Just as auto coverage is now mandatory, so would a requirement that all Americans get health insurance. Penalties for failing to get insurance would start at $750 a year for individuals and $1,500 for families. Households making more than three times the federal poverty level — about $66,000 for a family of four — would face the maximum fines. For families, it would be $3,800, and for individuals, $950.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090908/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_overhaul
I have an idea for the gov’t. Get your hands off our health care - except for cleaning up all the waste and fraud that YOU allow.
Start with a token co-pay of $5 for every uninsured person who goes the the ER. Then instead of the tax payer being billed $200+ for a bottle of aspirin - the person may, instead, just go to the store and buy a bottle.
Well argued.
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