Death Panels

Have you heard the scary talk about the "death panels" and euthenasia that will be in Obama's health care overhaul? Have you heard breathless reassurances that it will not, in fact, have these death panels that will kill grandma?

While it is true that there are no signs that the proposed reform will have panels to determine whether or not you are worthy of saving, it is my opinion that they should. Everybody wants 'reform' and 'lower costs' for the country's health care system. However, very few want any expense spared when their loved one is about to die. If you have had any experiences with health care in this country, I am probably not telling you anything you didn't already know. When death is imminent, it is commonplace to take drastic measures and use expensive methods to squeeze out just a little extra time, time which is often spent unconscious and braindead, being kept alive by machines, or just as often someone is brought back from the brink to live out the few remaining months of their life as an incoherent shell of their former self that struggles to even put shoes on.

As Newt Gingrich pointed out, 1/3 of Medicare spending is spent in the last year of life, and half of that amount is spent in the last 2 months.

If universal insurance of some form is enacted, should everyone have to pay for these practices? Chances are you are currently doing so with your health insurance premium, and definitely are with your medicare tax dollars. It seems to me that a rational standard for end-of-life care should be established, and those wishing for expensive and extraordinary end-of-life measures to be taken should purchase supplemental insurance to cover these costs.