Sarah Palin can take "credit" for creating the hysteria against Obama's health care "Death Panels." What great "leadership" she is demonstrating. Palin now has Republicans, like Senator Sen. Johnny Isakson, running away from a non-issue.
A year ago, Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation requiring doctors to discuss issues like living wills and advance directives with new Medicare enrollees. And the government already requires hospitals and nursing homes to help patients with those legal documents if they want support, under a 1992 law passed under Republican President George H.W. Bush.
Here's the funny thing. A Republican, former house member, and now Georgia Senator, Johnny Isakson, was one of the chief sponsors of the the House bill that allows Medicare to reimburse people for consultations about setting up living wills... and he's not alone:
In the House, Republican Reps. Charles Boustany of Louisiana, Geoff Davis of Kentucky and Patrick Tiberi of Ohio co-sponsored legislation from Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., that would authorize Medicare to pay for the counseling. That measure served as a model for the current House language.
This is the language that Sarah Palin and other extreme right wingers are citing to stir up the hooliganism. Is she discredited or what?
"If" legislation is ever proposed to create death panels to shorten the life of older people to save money, then we should all rise up to stop it... but despite what Fox News and Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele are saying, that hasn't happened.
Sources:
Associated Press, GOP backs away from end-of-life counseling, August 14, 2009.
Democracy Now, GOP, Right-Wing Pundits’ Misinformation Fuels Hysteria at Democrats’ Public Forums on Healthcare Reform, August 13, 2009.
1 comment:
The HMOs and health insurers actually do have death panels whose job is to decide who to deny healthcare based on reasons that sound medical but are actually based on corporate greed.
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