Fer It Afore They Were Agin It
Posted on | August 17, 2009
The nonsense about fascist death panels in the health-care reform “debate” is a purely Republican phenomenon, so we shouldn’t be surprised to find that not only is it a lie, actual Democratic proposals for end-of-life counseling aren’t so very different from those of the GOP of a few years ago:
Yes, that’s right. Remember the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, the one that passed with the votes of 204 GOP House members and 42 GOP Senators? Anyone want to guess what it provided funding for? Did you say counseling for end-of-life issues and care? Ding ding ding!!
Let’s go to the bill text, shall we? “The covered services are: evaluating the beneficiary’s need for pain and symptom management, including the individual’s need for hospice care; counseling the beneficiary with respect to end-of-life issues and care options, and advising the beneficiary regarding advanced care planning.” The only difference between the 2003 provision and the infamous Section 1233 that threatens the very future and moral sanctity of the Republic is that the first applied only to terminally ill patients. Section 1233 would expand funding so that people could voluntarily receive counseling before they become terminally ill.
So either Republicans were for death panels in 2003 before turning against them now–or they’re lying about end-of-life counseling in order to frighten the bejeezus out of their fellow citizens and defeat health reform by any means necessary. Which is it, Mr. Grassley (“Yea,” 2003)?
The noise designed to frighten you out of thinking is stupid and clumsy, and a measure of how much the corporations fear real reform. Your Republican “leaders” who repeat these claims are lying to you. The only death panels in existence are those run right now by the big insurers who want to deny you the coverage you’ve paid for.
