Free Republic

Oscar Wilde famously wrote, "I like men who have a future and women who have a past." We can thus assume that, were he with us today, he would turn up his nose at Donald Berwick and offer Marilyn Tavenner his most charming smile. This is Berwick's last day as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Tavenner is his replacement. If it's not obvious why Wilde would beam on the latter, it soon will be. First, however, it's necessary to recall a sentence from Obama's first address before a joint session of Congress. During that...

As reported in this publication, Democrats have been quick to defend Donald Berwick's dead of night inclusion of advanced directive and end of life planning into what is called the Annual Wellness Visit (what most of us call a checkup). They claim it's purely voluntary and that Medicare already covers advanced directive discussions. But the inclusion of the advanced directive and end of life planning is not voluntary, only the patient's discussion is. Doctors are required to bring it up year after year. What's more, noting that Medicare added the discussion of advance directives to the initial physical exam begs...