What are “death panels”? It boils down to government bureaucrats making choices on health care, particularly for the elderly and infirm. These are the kinds of things we see in England, where these panels decide that a walking cane is a better use of funds than medication and/or joint replacement surgery. Rather than leaving the decisions in the hands of the patients and medical professionals (something Leftists yammer on about when it comes to leaving the decision for an abortion to a woman and the doctor she had previously never met at the abortion clinic, and government getting out of the way) , “death panels” make the decisions, usually just to save lots of money. Which is strange, because in most other cases Liberals have no problem spending oodles of taxpayer money
(Breitbart) But Obamacare’s shoddy implementation doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of its great evil. Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber quite correctly attributed the passage of Obamcare to “lack of transparency†and the “stupidity of the American voter†– because it turns out that Obamacare will ration care, and that the most well-respected bodies in terms of health rationing have already recommended cutting off services.
The US Preventive Services Task Force is an independent body authorized by Congress to make “evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, or preventive medications.†And since the onset of Obamacare discussions, the Task Force recommendations for treatment and screening have become less and less generous. In November 2009, the Task Force recommended that mammography for women every other year between the ages of 50 and 74. They admit that they have insufficient information to suggest that it would be fruitless to screen after 74, and they say that case-by-case screenings should take place before 50.
The Mayo Clinic, by contrast, recommends annual mammograms for women above age 40; so too does the American Cancer Society. As Dr. Sandhya Pruthi of the Mayo Clinic writes, “Findings from a large study in Sweden of women in their 40s who underwent screening mammograms showed a decrease in breast cancer deaths by 29 percent.â€
Then there are colonoscopies: the Task Force recommends against routine colonoscopies for adults 76 to 85 years of age, and recommends against screening at all beyond age 85. The American Cancer Society and American College of Gastroenterology, by contrast, do not give an age limit for colonoscopies. Medicare, coincidentally, happens not to cover CT colonography but fully covers colonoscopies. A great way to cut costs: tell doctors not to give colonoscopies.
Sure seems like government is attempting to make the decisions that affect our health, does it not?
