It looks like the pundit-generated controversy over Section 1233 of the health care reform bill may nearing the end of it’s own life:
The Senate Finance Committee will drop a controversial provision on consultations for end-of-life care from its proposed healthcare bill, its top Republican member said Thursday.
The committee, which has worked on putting together a bipartisan healthcare reform bill, will drop the controversial provision after it was derided by conservatives as “death panels” to encourage euthanasia.
“On the Finance Committee, we are working very hard to avoid unintended consequences by methodically working through the complexities of all of these issues and policy options,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement. “We dropped end-of-life provisions from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly.”
So, it looks like Sarah Palin will have to engage over fear-mongering over some other provision of the bill. Or maybe she and the rest of the right will do the hard work of actually attacking it on it’s merits rather than making stuff up.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Or maybe they will just keep going on about the scary, evil “death panels” anyway. That’d be my guess. It’s a nice soundbite and it gets people paying attention to Sarah Palin again. And let’s be honest, who really cares about the truth?
August 13th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
This is really sad.
When my husband was diagnosed with cancer at 78 (first illness ever; never been hospitalized) the oncologist asked whether we and our children wanted to talk about his illness and find out what to expect and what sort of treatments might be suitable for him. We were glad to accept.
The hour we spent with the doctor cleared up many questions. He was friendly, patient and forthcoming. I wish all people would se the value of getting this information. The comments I hear and read about this are so outrageous I can’t believe it.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
[...] Air, Little Green Footballs (unhinged Palin Derangemt Syndrome in view), The Political Carnival and Below The Beltway (doesn’t get it, and a little PDS, as [...]
August 13th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
No such thing….
Please explain! Wha does it MEAN?
August 13th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
[...] Senate Panel To Drop “End Of Life” Counseling Provisions In ObamaCare - Below The Beltway [...]
August 16th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I believe that with the government going into enormous debt to set up a universal health care system and medical costs only going up in the future, the government will absolutely have to “ration” health care and make decisions not to provide medical treatment to individuals who are “too _____” – fill in the blank! Too old, too critically or cronically ill, too mentally deficient, etc.
The government shold not be involved in anyone’s life on this issue (and on a whole lot more issues!)
August 17th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
The government shold not be involved in anyone’s life on this issue
August 21st, 2009 at 2:14 am
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Thursday that after a wildly successful run, the cash for clunkers program will come to a close on Monday, August 24th at 8 p.m. EDT.