I'm sorry, but there just are not enough hours in the day to counteract all the lies and distortions that are being fanned into populist rage by Republican elected officials. The latest is Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) who, astoundingly, is telling people they ought to be scared by this "end of life counseling" in the House bill.
Sen. Grassley is none other than the ranking minority member on the Senate Finance Committee that has been dragging its feet in putting out it's health care bill -- because Chairman Max Baucus is trying to get bipartisan support, with his chief negotiator on the committee being Sen. Grassley.
This is absolutely shameful behavior. The Senate Finance Committee should immediately cease going through the charade of trying to water down its bill to get a few Republican votes -- if this is the way they're going to play the game. Just like they did on the stimulus bill.
Sen. Grassley said this at a rally back home, even after Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) gave an interview to the Washington Post to clarify that he had introduced the amendment to include the funding for end of life counseling in the reform bill from the Health Committee. And he explained that this was only about voluntary planning for living wills and medical powers of attorney for people who are receiving Medicare. It's similar to a bill he had introduced previously.
Isakson went further and told the Washington Post that this did not mean he supported the overall health care reform bill but that "the provision has nothing to do with “death panels” or euthanasia. . . . How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts," he said. “You’re putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don’t know how that got so mixed up.”
I'm beginning to think we should stop just blaming all this populist rage on troublemakers and insurance company agitation and wonder: where is all this rage coming from? It's bigger than the health care debate. The bad guys are tapping into something, not just creating it.
Ralph
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It is not idiotic to reference Representative Boehner and Senator Grassley’s vote of approval for the MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG, IMPROVEMENT, AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2003 Act as proof of their prior understanding and endorsement of the widely accepted Advance Planning-End-of-Life Care practice, especially in consideration of the fact that, contrary to Michael Steele’s recollection, the wording of Section 512 points out that coverage extends to those individuals who have NOT elected to have hospice care. Furthermore, the wording of Section 513 leaves no opportunity for ambiguity; it expresses with clarity the two distinct roles of counselling for End-of-Life issues and care options and Advance Care Planning.
ReplyDelete“Coverage of certain physician’s services for certain terminally ill individuals would be authorized. Persons entitled to these services would be individuals who have not elected the hospice benefit and have not previously received these physician’s services. 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.”
Republican Senator Johnny Erikson, of Georgia, recently explained to Ezra Klein of the Washington Post, that Advance Care Planning is quite unlikely to lead to euthanasia, since most doctors already discuss End-of-Life care options with their patients ahead of illness and while still able to engage fully in discussions and decisions. It is a practice which benefits both the patient and their family. Section 1233 of the proposed HR3200 now permits the physician to be paid for the time he dedicates to the consultation and coverage extends to one consultation every 5 years, should the patient wish, or more frequently in the case of deteriorating health. Those are the only differences.
“The most money spent on anyone’s health care is spent usually in the last 60 days of life and that’s because an individual is not in a capacity to make decisions for themselves. If everyone had an end-of-life directive, you could instruct at a time of sound mind and body what you want to happen in an event where you were in difficult circumstances where you’re unable to make those decisions.
All 50 states now have either durable powers of attorney or end-of-life directives.
Will a formal apology to President Obama from Representative Boehner, Senator Grassley and Governor Palin be extended? Since all three had prior direct involvement with Advance Care Planning and their unwarranted attacks on President Obama’s personal ethics were egregious and personally damaging. It is important now to clear up any residual fear or misunderstanding about Section 1233 among the elderly, arising from the widespread publicity and endless public discussions of Obama’s death panels. The perpetrators could be helpful in setting the record straight.
Whatever prior Republican objections were re federal funding of End-of-Life Care consultations veering into assisted suicide, it is truly time for Representative Boehner and Michael Steele to STOP THE INSULTS AND END THE POLITICAL MISCHIEF. Assisted suicide is illegal in 48 US States - Michael Steele would like to now insult the American medical profession, insinuating we have "Deadly Doctors" again? Just because Advance Care consultations would now be paid, the Republicans are concerned that physicians could terminate the very lives of the people they’d been dedicated to healing and prolonging?
Really, I'm speechless.
Annemarie