Orwell's 1984 vision of horror is the Liberal's version of where we are going today. The 1973 movie Soylent Green HAS to be the template for Obama's DEATH PANELS!

[PHILIP SCHNEIDER]

How have we arrived at this entrance to hell??

Was NO ONE interested enough to look at our future?? When 2000 page legislation passes without even a cursory glance at the language from our elected politicians, we deserve what we get!

We CAN change this paradigm . . . . vote em out! Get back to the constitution!

Dem regrets language in memo on ‘death panels’ that reignited debate. 

By Jason Millman

12/31/10 06:00 AM ET

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is distancing himself from a memo sent by his

office that urged health reform advocates not to advertise new


end-of-life counseling regulations to avoid reviving talk of “death


panels.”

The weeks-old memo recommended that end-of-life advocates celebrate a “quiet” victory out of concern that Republican


leaders would “use this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’


myth.”

Blumenauer now says he regrets the letter's secretive language, which has only bolstered

conservatives’ claims that the Obama administration tried to sneak the


provision in under the radar.




“If I had seen the memo, I would have suggested it be worded differently,” Blumenauer told The Hill.

In the memo, first reported on Dec. 26 by The New York Times,


Blumenaeur’s office expressed concern that new attention to end-of-life


care planning could doom an end-of-life provision included in a


Medicare regulation issued last month.

“Thus far, it seems that no press or blogs have discovered it, but we


will be keeping a close watch and may be calling on you if we need a


rapid, targeted response,” the memo read. “The longer this goes


unnoticed, the better our chances of keeping it.”

The original House healthcare reform bill included a Medicare provision reimbursing doctors for advising patients on end-of-life care, but was

dropped from the final bill after some conservatives said it could have


led to government-run “death panels.” The fact-checking website


Politifact labeled that claim its “lie of the year” in 2009.

A similar provision was included in a 2,000-page Medicare regulation


issued Nov. 29, reigniting debate over death panels and sparking


accusations that the Obama administration was usurping the will of


Congress.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page, for example, compared the


regulatory process under the Obama administration to a “black-ops


exercise.”

The Nov. 29 regulation contains a pared-down version of the House


end-of-life provision that calls on Medicare to reimburse doctors for


discussing end-of-life care in annual wellness visits created by


Democrats' healthcare reform law. The regulation had escaped public


scrutiny until the Dec. 26 Times report.

Blumenauer introduced similar legislation in April 2009, along with


three Republican co-sponsors - Reps. Charles Boustany (La.), Geoff


Davis (Ky.) and Patrick Tiberi (Ohio). But the provision became a


political lightning rod during the highly partisan healthcare reform


debate, with Republican leaders - including former Alaska Gov. Sarah


Palin and Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) - claiming that end-of-life care


planning was part of the Obama administration’s efforts to withhold


expensive life-sustaining treatments from the elderly and seriously ill.

The Obama administration defends the new regulation as a continuation


of a policy enacted under former President George W. Bush.

A law passed in 2008 said that orientation visits for new Medicare


beneficiaries – which were first enacted in 2003 – can include


voluntary “end-of-life” planning discussions. The new regulation said


that the same end-of-life discussions could also take place during the


new annual wellness visits created by the healthcare reform law.

“This was a reasonable thing for the administration to do,” Blumenauer said.

Though some Republicans have portrayed the regulation as a back-door

attempt to legislate through regulation, a Democratic health policy


consultant said he would be “shocked” if the White House knew in


advance that end-of-life consultation was included in the massive


regulation.

“Political people in the White House wouldn’t have wanted this to


happen” because of the bad political optics, he said. “But they’re not


watching the regulations being written.”




The source opined that House Republicans would now make this a prime target for repeal.

“It doesn't help that advocates wanted to keep it quiet,” the source


said, “because it's impossible to keep anything quiet in this town.”

Democratic strategist Bill Galston agreed Blumenauer’s office hurt


Democrats’ defense of the provision by trying to keep it a secret.




“It was stupid,” Galston told The Hill.

Blumenauer said he expects that some will try to keep the death panel


myth alive to score political points, but he doesn’t expect


congressional Republicans will make a legislative effort to limit


end-of-life care planning. He said they will be too focused on


repealing the entire reform law.




“This is a little target,” Blumenauer told The Hill.

If Republicans try to revive death panel claims when they return to


Congress next week, Galston said Democrats must be willing to fight


back.

“If [Democrats] are not prepared to drive a wedge between reasonable

political debate and fantasy-propelled conspiracy theories,” he said,


“they don’t deserve to be in the political game.”

 

[Sandra]

Well Phillip, it isn;t over until the fat lady sings... We need to keep calling and send snail mail to the DC rats... Toss everyone that has been in over two terms in 2012...