Obamacare "committees"

Heir

Can someone explain what my crazy grandparents are talking about with regards to the "death committees" wit obamacare?

They seem to think that Medicare will just let them die if, for example, they need to get chemo by rejecting the claims.

Thanatos

Here's a Forbes article debunking it, and here's the Snopes article on it.

There were some palliative care provisions that were removed from the final bill because of Sarah Palin and the crazy people who believed her.

There's a really great article about doctors and palliative care that you can read here that is related to this issue, and that I really just like to pimp out whenever possible. This is the kind of thing that is now being denied to people because of the rumors like your grandparents believe.

Hahnsoo1

There is extensive discussion of this on wikipedia:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_panel

Should give you a good place to start.

Heir

Thanks folks. Very helpful.

ceres

I have an elderly friend on medicare who is getting ready to start radiation and chemo for a brain tumor that under the best circumstances will kill him in less than a year and a half. Without medicare he would be shit out of luck. So I'm going to guess that it is really not true.

Djeet

The bit of the Affordable Care Act that Palin was referring to had to do with providing compensation to doctors for consults on advance directives and living wills and whatnot. To have such a consult is completely voluntary to the patient, but now Medicare would pay for it, whereas before it would have to come out of pocket from patient or provided pro-bono by doctor.

Buttcleft

I thought the "Death Panels" was the group of doctors who would discuss pricing and tell hospitals that they could only charge x amount for procedures and such, like a price cap, that was somehow twisted by the right wing nuts into a council of hooded illuminati at a vast circular table individually reviewing patient files declaring if someone was worth the cost of treating.

Djeet

"Death panels" as a term is courtesy of Palin and popularized by our friends at Fox, and given what you think they are it was a very successful bit of framing/branding on their part. There never has (nor will Obamacare put into place) some committee to decide if a person should get care or not.

This is the seed of the bullshit-fest that is "death panels". No patient will ever be forced to make a living will or set advance directives. O-care just requires Medicare to pay counselors should you elect to use their service for such.

Their is value to such services, but it's a pretty touchy subject. How Palin/Fox came to think there were bureaucrats that could pull the plug on your healthcare I don't know, and is emblematic of the way they frame discussions.

Captain Carrot

It was a test of their Emergency Broadcasting Center (of Bullshit Propaganda). And it was a smashing success. Note that the original provision was added by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who promptly started demonizing it once Sarah Palin's mouth opened.

Jasconius

Buttcleft wrote: »

I thought the "Death Panels" was the group of doctors who would discuss pricing and tell hospitals that they could only charge x amount for procedures and such, like a price cap, that was somehow twisted by the right wing nuts into a council of hooded illuminati at a vast circular table individually reviewing patient files declaring if someone was worth the cost of treating.

That's not "death panel", but is is a thing that is real.

There are committees composed of Doctors that discuss what types of things should be covered and to what extent by services like Medicare

This is not necessarily malicious stuff. More like, "if person has X, should he get Treatment A or B, and how much should that cost"?

which is what insurance companies do basically every day

The Ender

I have an elderly friend on medicare who is getting ready to start radiation and chemo for a brain tumor that under the best circumstances will kill him in less than a year and a half. Without medicare he would be shit out of luck. So I'm going to guess that it is really not true.

Yeah. The provisions, as Thanatos mentioned, were about palliative care - choosing to pursue treatment of symptoms rather than destructive treatment options that are rarely actually curative. If anyone (like your friend) wants to go through radiation and chemo therapy, I wish them all the best, but I feel like people ought to be better informed about what the likely outcome of those treatments is.


Anyway, OP: If your grandparents ever get to the point where those provisions would've mattered, God forbid, they will probably wish Sarah Palin & her supporters had kept their mouths shut.

ceres

The Ender wrote: »

I have an elderly friend on medicare who is getting ready to start radiation and chemo for a brain tumor that under the best circumstances will kill him in less than a year and a half. Without medicare he would be shit out of luck. So I'm going to guess that it is really not true.

Yeah. The provisions, as Thanatos mentioned, were about palliative care - choosing to pursue treatment of symptoms rather than destructive treatment options that are rarely actually curative. If anyone (like your friend) wants to go through radiation and chemo therapy, I wish them all the best, but I feel like people ought to be better informed about what the likely outcome of those treatments is.

He knows. His goal in life at this point is to see his grandson turn 3, so he's going to take what they offer if it might extend his life at all. I hope it helps more than I have a feeling it will.