There has been a lot of confusion about what Sarah Palin meant when she referred to “death panels” being a part of Obama’s healthcare plan.
There are misleading fictions:
There’s this view: The author of this blog who goes by the pen-name “Sweet Machine” writes in short that there’s really no such thing as death panels in Obama’s healthcare plan. Rather, Sweet Machine claims that death panels are really just:
“Voluntary counseling sessions helping seniors to plan for end-of-life medical care. Voluntary counseling sessions. There’s your death panel! Heaven forfend!”
Sweet Machine is simply mistaken. What she’s written here is misleading. When those who oppose Obama’s healthcare plan talk about ‘death panels’ they are not talking about voluntary counseling sessions. Read on.
And there’s this view which also takes Sweet Machine’s position:
“Recently, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speculated that Obama and other Democrats wanted to set up “death panels” to decide who gets medical services and who does not.
In reality, the provision was designed to allow Medicare to pay doctors who counsel patients about planning for end-of-life decisions. The consultations would be voluntary and would provide information about living wills, healthcare proxies, pain medication and hospice.”
Then there’s the truth.
The “Death Panels” that Palin and others have referred to have nothing to do with these ‘end of life, counseling sessions’ mentioned above, but have everything to do with government- by way of policy choices- deciding which patients will be granted which treatments and which patients will not. In other words, the government panel will decide who lives and who dies. Read on.
What anyone who understands economics and government oversight knows is that the allocation of scarce resources will require some persons (government officials) to decide how much the rest (average citizens) will get. In this system it is mere matter of fact that some citizens will be given less than they need. And why is this? Because in a system where government can’t pay for everyone to have top-grade, gold-standard health coverage (like what Congress has) government will have to give to the rest (average citizens) nickel-standard coverage.
In short, in a government run system it would be a panel (a group of government officials) who would have to decide (make policy choices) about the allocation of scarce moneys across a national healthcare system. This panel would decide which portions of the healthcare sector are to get cuts, just like this panel would decide what sector of healthcare would get increases in spending and so forth. This government panel would choose, in the sensitive, deliberate, careful and caring manner of government panels, what cancer treatments A, B and C, for example, would be too expensive (and therefore disallowed) for patients falling into category X,Y or Z. Since humans are not machines (no matter what Sweet Machine would have you believe) there will be some patients (average citizens) with cancer who just so happen to fall into this new government category X, Y or Z. Those patients will be denied treatments A,B, and C. Some people who are denied treatments A, B and C will die on account of not receiving such treatments (or maybe die sooner, or in more pain, etc. than if they had received the treatments). This government panel in so doing their function—just by doing their job, making the hard choices for fund allocation– will indirectly make decisions that will result in the loss of life that could have otherwise been saved, or improved, etc.
In other words: Just as Palin correctly stated, this government panel would be deciding indirectly who gets to live and who gets to die. It would be a ‘death panel’. This is a fact of the Obama healthcare plan. This is the truth. This is the insidious and callous reality of the way government works.
Palin is not saying these panels will decide directly “Joe will be given death, and Suzie given life.” No. But she is saying correctly that in a situation where Joe has been given 6 months to live if he doesn’t receive treatment A, B or C, and it turns out that Joe just so happens to fall into patient category X, Y or Z, then guess what? Joe isn’t going to be given treatments A, B or C. Why? Because the government panel decided those treatments were too expensive to be given to patients falling into certain categories.
Too harsh? Fine. Maybe the government panel decides that patients in category X, Y or Z can only get treatments A, B or C after patients in category E, F and G get those treatments. Joe then isn’t told that he can’t get the treatment at all, just that he has to wait a while for the E, F and G patients to get the treatments first. But Joe only has 6 months to live. What if the waiting period is a year long? Two years? (Not uncommon waiting periods for citizens under government run healthcare plans in countries like Canada and the U.K.) Don’t trust me? Fine. What if the waiting period is only 5 months? 8 months? Does it really matter? Of course it does. Joe wants the treatments now. Joe deserves the treatments now. Yet, on account of the decision of the government panel, Joe is going to have to wait. In other words: Joe is going to die (or at least be much worse off before he finally gets the treatments).
If this government panel isn’t deciding the life and death of citizens then I don’t know what is.
The Sensitive and Caring DMV:
If you don’t like the name “death panel” because it seems too callous or too insensitive, stop by your local DMV and try to get them to issue you a renewed registration without showing proof of smog-check. How about trying to get them to renew your license when you only have enough money to pay half the fee? Then tell them that you only have half the fee because you have a son in the hospital. See how caring they are. See how sympathetic they are. See how the DMV treats you and think to yourself: would I want my healthcare provider run in this same manner?
Government panel decides automobile regulations and fees, etc. Government panel decides healthcare regulations and fees, etc.
You decide.