Krugman: Death Panels, VAT Will Fix Debt Crisis

Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says the only way the U.S. will get its debt crisis under control is by the use of "death panels" and a national sales tax.

The national sales tax, referred to as VAT (value-added tax) and widely used by governments across Europe, will help cut the U.S deficit, Krugman argues.

Krugman made his comments on ABC's “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” during a roundtable discussion about the economy and the recent findings of the U.S. Debt Reduction Commission.

"Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It's going to be that we're actually going to take Medicare under control, and we're going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it's not going to happen now."

The Obama healthcare plan passed by Congress in 2010 includes government-run healthcare committees with sweeping powers, including the power to engage in competitive pricing and cost analysis, a system used by Britain that has led to rationing of medical care for the elderly.

Critics of the Obama plan, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, quickly dubbed the committees "death panels," saying government agencies would decide who would live and who would die. Supporters of the Obama health plan dismissed such suggestions as nonsense.

Krugman apparently thinks otherwise, and suggests that such death panels could be one way the federal government will be able to deal with soaring medical costs under control as the Baby Boomers enter retirement.(continued)

Significant rationing will occur no matter who is in charge or what we term it. It’s guaranteed because such a high percentage of the post 65 population will be unable to afford healthcare in addition to Medicare.

I object to the use of the term, "rationing" for anything other than government-controlled supply limits.
That is, there is no rationing if the market is free and you pay for what you get. There is no rationing if you have an insurance plan, including a government-run insurance plan, and it does not pay for everything you want/need. Not even if you can't afford to pay out of pocket.
Rationing is when the government interferes with your ability to get more health care than the government decides that you "need" or "deserve" or is "cost effective." And the rationale for government insurance comes from the same impulse as the desire to prevent Bill Gates from paying a billion dollars for medical treatment for his family. The trouble with preventing that is that if nobody pays for expensive care, that care will remain out of everyone's reach for all time - but if rich people do pay for state-of-the-art care, a knowledge base will develop which will enable the cost of that level of care to be reduced. Let whoso thinks that is pie in the sky reflect on the fact that an American secretary today gets far better medical care that Queen Victoria did. Do you actually want to foreclose the possibility that your grandchildren will get medical care as much better than what you get now, as the medical care you get is superior to that which your grandparents got? Is the shadenfreude of preventing Bill Gates from getting better care than you do worth that? That is directly contrary to the mission statement of the Constitution:
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity

and the explicit mandate of Congress
To promote the progress of science and useful arts
Paying for health care out of pocket is not "rationing."

hmm Death pannels:

1. You have accumulated too much wealth and you should die to allow redistribution of your estate via confiscatory death taxes. you must die.

2. Your care is a burden on society and the productivity of you “loved ones”’ ability to pay taxes. you must die.

3. you are not a protected political group. you must die.

4. you voted for reagan. you must die.

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