Well, that's one way to get the Medicare/Social Security systems back "into balance." The "death panel" to which you refer is the IPRB — the independent payment review board — a collection of some 14 or 15 presidential appointees, who may or may not be doctors or other medical professionals — that is to say, a gang of folks who weren't elected by the people they supposedly serve, who are answerable to nobody but the president.
0bama's chief healthcare theorist — Ezekiel Emmanuel, brother of long-term presidential buddy Rahm Emmanuel, now mayor of Chicago — articulates the "ideological" underpinnings of the "complete lives" theory which will likely drive IPRB decision-making as to what health care expenditures will be allowed, and for whom. It is completely clear from this this article that health care rationing — particularly WRT elderly citizens — is precisely what we're talking about here.
In short, if you're 25 years old, with your "future ahead" of you, you get full-boat coverage. If you're 65 or older — the Medicare cohort — you must realize that you have already lived a substantial portion of your "complete life," and are therefore less worthy of consideration for Medicare reimbursement than a person half your age.
Not for nothing is the IPRB accurately described as a "death panel."
Dear vette6387, you wrote:
If you wanted to devise a system to make bums out of a once productive society, you could not do better than what’s being attempted now. Just hope the nutless House GOP grabs what’s left in their crotches and stands up against this assault on our lives and liberties.I couldn't agree with you more.
Thank you ever so much for writing!
Logic without morals would show that bumping off the baby boomers who are no longer paying taxes will help to balance the budget. I pray the death panels will be staffed with moral people and the economy improves so this grim possibility never happens.