Sarah Palin's new death panel (L.A. Times Barf-Alert)

LA TIMES ^ | 09 SEPTEMBER 2009 | LA TIMES

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Sarah Palin popped up again today on the Wall Street Journal's Op-Ed page to renew her accusation that President Obama was advocating "death panels." Never mind that lawmakers have already abandoned the proposal that gave rise to the original "death panel" hysteria, namely, a provision allowing Medicare to pay doctors no more than once every five years to counsel patients about their options for "end of life" care. (Some top geriatricians think such counseling would actually give the elderly more control by encouraging them to declare their preferences while they're still capable of doing so. But I digress.)

This time, Palin attacked Obama's proposal to beef up MedPAC -- the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. The 17-member MedPAC makes recommendations to Congress about how much doctors and hospitals should be paid for the services they provide. To insulate these decisions from political pressure, Obama has proposed giving a new version of MedPAC the power to set reimbursement levels, with Congress retaining the power to veto those decisions before they take effect. To Palin, though, this amounted to giving "an unelected, largely unaccountable group of experts" the power to make life-and-death decisions about care.

[opentalk]

The stimulus bill has the death panel provision, is already funded and law. Ezek Emanuel is head of panel (commission)

[Diogenesis]

Gov. Palin: "Common sense tells us that the government's attempts to solve large problems more often create new ones.
... Mr. Obama wants to eliminate inefficiency and waste: He's asked Congress to create an
Independent Medicare Advisory Council—an unelected, largely unaccountable group
of experts [diogenesis: Experts? LOL This needs quotes]
charged with containing Medicare costs.
.... Given such statements, is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned
that the Democrats' proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care
by—dare I say it—death panels? ....
the fact remains that the Democrats' proposals would still empower unelected bureaucrats to make
decisions affecting life or death health-care matters. Such government overreaching is what
we've come to expect from this administration.

[bcsco]

I just love how she keeps them in reactionary mode. They are so afraid of her they just can’t leave anything she says/does alone.

[Fishtalk]

Heh.

The Libs try to fight that about the Death Panels but, unfortunately for them, the American public associates gubmint health care with such as determining who lives or dies.

We all deal with the gubmint. We know that’s what they want. They bark up a tree like the loons they are.

[DoughtyOne]

“How dare that Palin bring up something they already caught us on after we denied it for weeks? How unfair can the right be anyway?”

reading between the lines...

[allmendream]

There WERE no “death panels” in the legislation and it is irresponsible and ludicrous to suggest there are.

OK, there WERE “death panels” in the legislation, but they were just ‘end of life’ talks which nobody with a brain should be afraid of.

OK, the “death panels” Palin was talking about were all about rationing care, not end of life counseling sessions; but only those who do not contribute sufficiently to society will fall under the “death panels” so no worries.

There are no death panels in this legislation and it is irresponsible and ludicrous to suggest there are.

Repeat as necessary......

[Sarah Barracuda]

Hey LA Slimes, still waiting for that release of that tape of Obama toasting Rashid Khalidi, I’ve been waiting over a year, but I am patient

[Pearls Before Swine]

Those aren't the real death panels. It is a combination of "suitable methods deciders" who decide what is a valid treatment for your age and condition, and the line people who decide how to apply the criteria that have been decided.

Anyone who has dealt with an ethnically different government employee and gotten the full armslength slow-boat treatment should know what I mean. Unlike insurance gatekeepers, government gatekeepers will be beyond legal or administrative discipline.

[ReneeLynn]

Sarah ‘popped up again today’. Oh, how dare she express an opinion. Doesn’t she know she’s just supposed to shut up like the rest of us?

[paul in cape]

Never mind that lawmakers have already abandoned the proposal that gave rise to the original "death panel" hysteria.

If it was abandoned, it had to be in there to begin with. One cannot abandon something that's not there!

Thanks, Sarah, for making them crawl back under the rock they came from.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

For someone who was derided as a quitter and politically dead, Sarah sure does drive the left into a tizzy every time she publishes something.