In this mornings Medford Mail Tribune I found this interesting quote from the Associated Press on page one.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin refused to retreat from her debunked claim that a proposed health care overhaul would create "death panels," as the growing furor over end-of-life consultations ......(emphasis added)
"Debunked" by who..... the New York Times, Associated Press, the Medford Mail Tribune. The liberal media is deathly afraid of this issue because it will kill a government takeover of heath care and they know it. The liberal media who think the American people don't know what's good for them are engaging in a big smear on this issue to help out the Democrats and Barack Obama. To prove my point all we need to do is look at Obama's own words.
Barack Obama in an April 2009 New York Times interview, said a "very difficult democratic conversation" would have to take place regarding restraining the cost of end-of-life care:
THE PRESIDENT: So that’s where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues. But that’s also a huge driver of cost, right?
I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.
DAVID LEONHARDT: So how do you — how do we deal with it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that’s part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance. It’s not determinative, but I think has to be able to give you some guidance. And that’s part of what I suspect you’ll see emerging out of the various health care conversations that are taking place on the Hill right now.(emphasis added)
Sounds like DEATH PANELS to me.
I am a big advocate in allowing people the freedom to decide how they will leave this life..... however the decision should be theirs and not some bureaucratic "Death Panel" that tells them that at age 84 open heart surgery is too expensive. If we allow a government take over of health care there will be rationing and "death panels and I know it sure as the turning of the earth.
As moderate Republican Senator Chuck Grassly of Iowa, who is working on a compromise health care bill, said:
"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life," Grassley said. "And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."
Wall Street Journal Editorial
Elderly Americans are turning out in droves to fight ObamaCare, and President Obama is arguing back that they have nothing to worry about. Allow us to referee. While claims about euthanasia and "death panels" are over the top, senior fears have exposed a fundamental truth about what Mr. Obama is proposing: Namely, once health care is nationalized, or mostly nationalized, rationing care is inevitable, and those who have lived the longest will find their care the most restricted.
***
Far from being a scare tactic, this is a logical conclusion based on experience and common-sense. Once health care is a "free good" that government pays for, demand will soar and government costs will soar too. When the public finally reaches its taxing limit, something will have to give on the care and spending side. In a word, care will be rationed by politics....
To read the rest click on the title for a link
