OMG! The Death Panels!
Posted on August 10th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum in Profits Before People
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In case you haven't heard, the latest right-wing lie about health care reform is courtesy of that master of the facts, Sarah Palin:
The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.
I sigh every time I have to say this, because really, it should be obvious, but there are no "death panels." If you don't believe me, maybe PolitiFact's "pants on fire" rating of this lie will convince you:
We have read all 1,000-plus pages of the Democratic bill and examined versions in various committees. There is no panel in any version of the health care bills in Congress that judges a person's "level of productivity in society" to determine whether they are "worthy" of health care.
Of course, the inconvenient fact that this smear is untrue is not going to stop the likes of Newt Gingrich or Glenn Beck, both of whom apparently believe this ridiculous attack.
It's amazing to me that anyone would actually believe this stuff. As Senator Claire McCaskill said at her town hall this morning, which I watched on CNN, "This is America."
We don't have "death panels" in America, or any of the ridiculous stuff that the right wing thinks is in the health care bill. The right may disagree with health reform, and they may desperately want to keep the status quo, but this is over the top, and it hurts their cause. Nobody believes it.
Palin's death panel sounds a lot like every job interview and annual review I've ever had: bureaucrats judging my productivity to determine whether I am worthy of health insurance. I had never thought of our system as 'downright evil' before, but I don't have Sarah Palin's astounding moral vision.
Incendiary; Palin be thy name.
Of course, the news coming out is that she is encouraging "civil discourse" amongst her followers. How that compliments her previous statement using words such as "death" panels and "evil" constitutes political double speak.
All the accusations that Palin and people who have not read the unfinished bills are relying on an age-old deceptive tactic:
It doesn't matter if it's not true, it only matters if it's rumored.
What is irritatingly ironic is that the rationing the far right is scaring the public with is exactly what companies like United Health Group are guilty of. Americans CANNOT walk into a board meeting with shareholders and fire the CEO's who deny them coverage.
But we can walk into a voting booth.
The insurance industry is spending millions of dollars everyday to keep us broke.
They have the money. But we have the votes. So we have the power. Stand up and be heard.
By what authority in our Constitution does the government enter into a non-government activity?
"Nobody believes it."
If only that were true. Sadly enough, my parents do.
Common sense should tell you that to add millions of people to the medical system will cause shortages in facilities and resources resulting in rationing. It may not be spelled out -because even bleeding hearts might oppose it–but it is a reality in Oregon( they would pay for a woman to kill herself but not her cancer treatment)and other socialized countries. If the whole point of this "reform" is to make sure everyone gets quality healthcare this option will only shift resources from those that have insurance ,money or access to any county hospital or emergency room to whomever the government deems worthy enough to keep alive. Gov't not money will determine who gets medical care. Thus, we still have the same problem, you just have people that have paid taxes to fund county hospitals, medicare and medicaid throughout their working lives for other people now going to be rationed out of the system. (check out Rahm Emmanuels brothers writings) There is not enough tax money coming from the wealthy class to pay for the majority of non taxpaying Americans and the continuous flow of illegal Mexicans healthcare. The point is to repair the problem that we face not make it worse. There is nothing wrong with wanting to reform what is wrong with the healthcare system…but they haven't even touched on the real reasons for the high costs which tells me they really don't care about healthcare for the citizens of this country. Insurance companies set fees that they are willing to pay for procedures. To stay in business doctors have had to agree to these fees. Just as the doctors have had to capitulate to insurance companies why not have gov't tell insurance companies: no pre-existing exclusions, no canceling for illness, policies offered nationally, policies follow from job to job. TORT REFORM!!!!!Why are we not approaching from this direction? You know Pelosi is saying the insurance companies are behind the protest well I haven't heard a peep from insurance companies. My insurance guy told me several years ago that health insurance was a loss-leader for these companies. Their cash-cows were term, disability and other products. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually were behind this "reform" and this is their out. With their loss-leader out of the way their profits will go sky high!
Your cause is not just. The constitution does not afford you the "right" of health care at the cost of the taxpayers. The constitution provides you the right to make your own way, the right to be free from tyrannical rule or control. "The government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have" "The democracy will cease to exist when you take from those that work, and give to those that would not." both quotes from Thomas Jefferson.
Debunking health care myths with the greatest debunkability http://klogtheblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/rationing-death-panels.html
There's a lot of things Congress passes that are not in the Constitution, that doesn't mean they can't do them.
For example, Congressmen and women are offered a health plan using our tax dollars. Medicare has been around for a long time, NO ONE is going to repeal that.
The idea of "death panels" are now a political punchline and embarrassment for the Republican party.
Twenty years from now when health care is available to more Americans than its ever been, the people opposing a public option will join the sad angry cynics who believed that NASA didn't land on the moon.
The Demons are DRUNK with Power but the hang over is on the way, starting with the next elections, bottoms Up