Panel scraps end-of-life provision
Talk about "death panels" had been widely dismissed, but it remained a lightning rod in the health debate.
By Christi Parsons and Andrew Zajac
Chicago Tribune
philly.com
WASHINGTON - A Senate panel has decided to scrap the part of its health-care bill that has given rise to fears of government "death panels" in recent days, with one lawmaker suggesting that the proposal was just confusing.
The Senate Finance Committee is taking the idea of "end-of-life care consultations" with doctors off the table as it works to craft its version of health-care legislation, a Democratic committee aide said yesterday.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the committee, said the panel dropped the idea because it could be "misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly."
For Democrats, the decision was an apparent acknowledgment that the provision had become a lightning rod for critics of their proposed overhaul of the health-care system. Democratic lawmakers and President Obama are trying to extend health insurance to more Americans, rein in costs, and make other changes.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin alleged that the provision would allow Obama and other Democrats to set up "death panels" to decide who gets medical services and who does not.
In reality, the provision was designed to enable Medicare to pay doctors who counsel patients about end-of-life decisions. The consultations would be voluntary and would provide patients with information about living wills, health-care proxies, pain medication, and hospice care.
A similar provision remains in legislation passed by three House panels last month, and the idea could remain on the table when lawmakers move toward a final bill. Legislation passed by the Senate's health committee doesn't include it.
The Palin assertion about "death panels" has been so widely discredited that the White House has begun citing it in an effort to show that opponents of the health-care overhaul are misinformed.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called attention to criticism from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Palin's home state.
"It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there's these end-of-life provisions, these death panels," Murkowski told an audience earlier this week. "Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology, because it absolutely isn't" in the bill.
Still, a week after first using the term death panels on her Facebook page, Palin again defended her claim.
In a posting titled "Concerning Death Panels" she argued Wednesday night that the elderly and ailing would be coerced into accepting minimal end-of-life care to reduce health-care costs, based on a Democratic bill in the House.
She wrote: "With all due respect, it's misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to Medicare recipients."
Senators on the Finance Committee decided to get rid of the provision that appears to be animating the claim.
"The Finance Committee is not discussing end-of-life provisions as part of our health care reform negotiations, and such provisions were never a major focus of Finance Committee discussions," the Democratic aide said.
Grassley said yesterday that he believed the measure could have been applied in a way the authors never intended.
Palin hasn't always opposed end-of-life counseling.
As governor, she signed a proclamation making April 16, 2008, Healthcare Decision Day, with the goal to have health-care professionals and others participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information about advance directives.
The proclamation noted that only 20 percent of Alaskans have advance directives.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D., Ore.), who wrote the House provision on end-of-life counseling, said he was astounded that Palin had not tempered her bleak descriptions of the health-care bill.
"If she wasn't deliberately lying at the beginning, she is deliberately allowing a terrible falsehood to be spread with her name," he said.
Yesterday a new coalition of drugmakers, unions, hospitals, and others launched a $12 million pro-overhaul ad campaign.
The Obama administration also sought to regain control of the debate by asking supporters to forward a chain e-mail to counter criticisms on the Internet. The e-mail by White House senior adviser David Axelrod offers reasons to support Obama's agenda - and myths to debunk.
The new ad, airing in a dozen states, not including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is being paid for by Americans for Stable Quality Care.
Members of the group are Families USA, a liberal advocacy group; the Service Employees International Union; the drug lobby Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA); the American Medical Association; and the Federation of American Hospitals.
The ad shows a series of photos of doctors and nurses interacting with patients as the narrator asks: "What does health insurance reform mean for you? It means you can't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition, or dropped if you get sick." It also cites lowered costs and a focus on prevention.
Drugmakers and other groups stand to gain if millions more people gain access to insurance. |
