A "death panel" is not some bizzarro vision of a science fiction, post-apocalyptic world. Right now, there are dozens of death panels convening in insurance company meeting rooms all across the country. They're discussing ways to cancel coverage, refuse to approve surgical procedures, substitute cheap medicine for effective medicine, amputate limbs because it's cheaper than saving them, and so on. We have death panels right now. Sarah Palin is right. She's just pointing her finger the wrong direction.

The woman on the other side of my cubicle wall was on the phone to her father's insurance company trying to get an explanation for why they won't pay for his next line of chemotherapy. She wasn't getting anyone to pick up the phone. The heart breaking line (I pretend not to hear her conversations) was "Please call back. I am running out of time."

Sarah Palin needs to sit down and shut up.

Yes, she does very much need to do just that. Unfortunately, the only real skill she appears to have is running her motor mouth.

Arlington:

Yes, she does very much need to do just that. Unfortunately, the only real skill she appears to have is running her motor mouth.

That's just not fair--I mean how can you leave out looking good on TV? I think things would have been drastically different, if we could have only heard Palin on the radio, but not seen her on TV.

You're right! I forgot she's a "hottie."

Arlington:

Right now, there are dozens of death panels convening in insurance company meeting rooms all across the country.

Let's say for the sake of argument that you are right. How are Obama's death panels any better than the current ones?

I am tempted to reply, "How could they be any worse?" but we all realize they could be worse. What bothers me about this "discussion" is it isn't even a discussion because there is no specific proposal for anything like "death panels" or anything resembling them. There is the idea that government might involve itself in end-of-life decisions to the extent that a public advocate or somebody like that would monitor the insurance company to ensure they weren't denying care just because they decided the insured person was old and might burn through a few dollars before dying. That certainly happens now.

Arlington:

because they decided the insured person was old and might burn through a few dollars before dying. That certainly happens now.

Yes, it does happen now. But it happens voluntarily. You don’t have to have the insurance you have now. You can go to another insurance company. Hell, you can work for another company and change your plan that way. It’s all voluntary.

That is how it could be worse. Because a government plan isn’t voluntary.

Look, I think that people should have end-of-life counseling. We’re all going to need it, someday. But a government plan that today allows euthanasia might tomorrow encourage it; and the day after require it. The slippery slope is real here. When it comes time to make cuts (rationing) who will it be easier to not fund? A child with their whole life ahead of them? Or grandma who has had her life?

“Don’t you think you’ve had a rich, full life? Isn’t it time to move on? You don’t want to be a burden to your family, do you?” Are any of those statements beyond the realm of possibility?

If you're sick enough that your insurer is denying coverage, good luck getting it somewhere else.

The private insurance death panels are case workers that go through the high pay out files and find ways to discontinue insurance for those individuals, or at the very least, put treatment payments on hold for adjudication (what my cubicle partner is going through) while the patient dies and payments become moot.

The proposal that Congress put in the health care bill was just a benefit that allowed people over the age of fifty to prepare their living wills free of charge on the assumption that people that die without a living will is generally more expensive than those that do.

Apples and Oranges.

When did a living will become Euthanasia?

I have no plans to become a living corpse like Terri Shiavo? How about you? Do you plan on spending a year with a tube stuck down your throat until your body reacts to all the bedsores on your body and starts to rot?

Do you want us to pay for that?

And by the way. Don't try changing jobs to get a better Insurance Policy. Not a good idea. There is a very very good chance that such an ill advised career move like that could easily result in you going without insurance for an extended period of time and when you do get back on the largess of the corporations you may end up with a pre-existing condition.

Apparently you are extremely naive about health insurance. I hope you learn about all that before you make any big mistakes.

With health insurance you don't get a do over.

Trebuchet:

I have no plans to become a living corpse like Terri Shiavo? How about you? Do you plan on spending a year with a tube stuck down your throat until your body reacts to all the bedsores on your body and starts to rot?

No, I don’t. But if I did, it should be my choice, shouldn’t it? It’s my life, my insurance, my money, my choice to do so. With government run healthcare, it’s no longer my choice. See the difference?

Trebuchet:

Do you want us to pay for that?

With that one sentence, you’ve proven my point. They won’t pay for it. That’s exactly what I was saying.

Trebuchet:

And by the way. Don't try changing jobs to get a better Insurance Policy. Not a good idea. There is a very very good chance that such an ill advised career move like that could easily result in you going without insurance for an extended period of time and when you do get back on the largess of the corporations you may end up with a pre-existing condition.

Or not. I fail to see why your bleak scenario is any more likely than one I envision. I’ve changed companies before. Sometimes the benefits were better, sometimes worse. But being an adult, I made that choice and had no excuses for it. Your world, where the big bad insurance company pushes all the helpless little guys around- well, maybe you need government to look out for you. You are clearly too stupid to run your own life. Maybe you really do need the government to do it for you. that being the case, I pity you. But don't confuse your weakness with mine.