Later on.... yep, totally concur here, too.
Ultimately.... Disagree here.
I just think that ultimately, you won't see anyone. Think of an office with banks of phones, endlessly ringing. Because if there's one thing that bureaucrats hate, it's taking responsibility for anything. And a 'Death Panel' implies responsibility.
Honestly, I'd rather have a 'Death Panel'. Would have someone to hold accountable, and maybe, eventually, action might get taken. No answer at all....or maybe an endless phone tree ("Press 1 for Spanish. Press 2 for Arabic. Etc") ... gives no accountability.
Also, no one to get strung up by the angry mobs.
Some thought the phrase "death panel" implied that your were going to go in front of some final judge who would rule on your individual case and you might be able to plead for mercy. Instead the death panel would be a bunch of faceless bureaucrats deep in HHS deciding on whether to reduce the maximum age a diabetic with a BMI of 30.0 could get a quadruple bypass from 65 to 60. Your doctor would punch in a request for treatment into the computer and an unappealable and unspecified rejection would appear. You would never know that you were 3 pounds over some weight limit that you could lose in a couple weeks if (or because) your life depended on it.