NY Times:
When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1.
Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.
Congressional supporters of the new policy, though pleased, have kept quiet. They fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009 when Republicans seized on the idea of end-of-life counseling to argue that the Democrats’ bill would allow the government to cut off care for the critically ill.
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This way they talk the patient into the cut off. You would think that other family members should be a part of this process so they can make sure their love ones understand the decisions they are being asked to make. Democrats don't see life as precious as many Republicans do. That is why they are not trusted on these issues.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Although I oppose making "end of life planning" lucrative for anyone, I also oppose allowing anyone other than myself have any control over my own health decisions provided I have not been found incompetent by a court. It's really important that we not use advanced age as a marker for limits on our right to self-determination. I have a right to be stupid and to take my own risks. Whether I am 28 or 98, I do not need or want a guardian.
ReplyDeleteWhat needs to be fought here is the concept of using direct monetary incentives for driving behavior as a wedge in the Doctor/Patient relationship. This is a marketing tool at heart and it brings a very ugly side of modern business culture into the open: the premise that mass behaviors can be induced by pricing & reward structures.
Does it work? Perhaps. Should it be used by governments in any form, or for essentials outside the marketing of non-essential goods? That's the question at the heart of the ethics. That's the question neither party is willing to discuss.
The problem isn't the content of the regulation. the problem is that Congress has explicitly rejected it, but the dictator-in-chief is imposing it through regulations that contradict the will of Congress.
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