Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Beyond Obamacare [former Obama official says we NEED death panels]
The New York Times ^ | September 16, 2012 | Steven Rattner

Posted on 09/26/2012 9:16:09 AM PDT by ConjunctionJunction

WE need death panels.

Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently — rationing, by its proper name — the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget.

But in the pantheon of toxic issues — the famous “third rails” of American politics — none stands taller than overtly acknowledging that elderly Americans are not entitled to every conceivable medical procedure or pharmaceutical.

Most notably, President Obama’s estimable Affordable Care Act regrettably includes severe restrictions on any reduction in Medicare services or increase in fees to beneficiaries. In 2009, Sarah Palin’s rant about death panels even forced elimination from the bill of a provision to offer end-of-life consultations.

Now, three years on, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Paul D. Ryan, has offered his latest ambitious plan for addressing the Medicare problem. But like Mr. Obama’s, it holds limited promise for containing the program’s escalating costs within sensible boundaries.

The Obama and Ryan plans are not without common ground; both propose an identical formula for capping the growth in Medicare spending per beneficiary. And both dip into the same toolbox (particularly lower payments to providers) to achieve a reduction of nearly $1 trillion in Medicare expenditures over the next decade from projected levels.

That’s where the agreement ends. Mr. Ryan believes that meeting the goal over the long term requires introducing more competition into Medicare through vouchers to purchase private insurance.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: abortion; deathpanels; healthcare; medicare; obamacare; palin; paulryan; rationing; rattner; ryan; sarahpalin; stevenrattner; steverattner; zerocare
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-32 next last

1 posted on 09/26/2012 9:16:17 AM PDT by ConjunctionJunction
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction
In 2009, Sarah Palin’s rant about death panels even forced elimination from the bill of a provision to offer end-of-life consultations.

It's amazing how inconsequential she is.

2 posted on 09/26/2012 9:21:40 AM PDT by Dahoser (Separation of church and state? No, we need separation of media and state.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction
Steven Rattner is eager to pass out the pills.
3 posted on 09/26/2012 9:22:34 AM PDT by JPG (Make it happen)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction; vette6387; Nachum; Free ThinkerNY; Doogle; MamaDearest; bevperl; ...

One can be sure that their Death Panels won’t pertain to the Political Elites and their families just like other dictatorships throughout time! Big Bro and Big Sis’s Death Panels will be for We The People. Re-read your history books and pay attention to the Third Reich.


4 posted on 09/26/2012 9:23:41 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction

Get the Federal Government the “H” out of our business, our medical, everything other than what they were designed to do by the Founders. Problem resolved.


5 posted on 09/26/2012 9:26:51 AM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dahoser
Sarah Palin: The Most important irrelevant figure in America today.

To this Ubama administration official: Where to you want your body dumped after you don't get that transplant you needed so bad? The Lake? In some Concrete under a new street?

Or how about you have a nice tall cup of STFU!


6 posted on 09/26/2012 9:30:34 AM PDT by KC_Lion ( Wherever I find myself standing, I forever stand with Israel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: rockinqsranch

Down a slippery slope to Logans Run.


7 posted on 09/26/2012 9:32:05 AM PDT by Gasshog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction

I support euthanisia of all Liberals, by calling it late term abortions.


8 posted on 09/26/2012 9:32:19 AM PDT by wac3rd (Somewhere in Hell, Ted Kennedy snickers....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction

If health care were not a government expense then the cost os caring for non productive folks would not be a problem for the budget and total costs to the economy would be far smaller. The answer, of course, is to end ALL government participation in and regulation of medicine and insurance beyond FDA type guarantees that what what it says on a label is what is in the product. That is part of the government guarantee of weights and measures.


9 posted on 09/26/2012 9:35:27 AM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE www.fee.org/library/books/economics-in-one-lesson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction

end-of-life consultations were not OFFERED .... they were mandatory

____ Geez, they can’t help themselves from lying even in an article that is overall trying to sort-of tell the truth.


10 posted on 09/26/2012 9:37:55 AM PDT by Lorianne (fedgov, taxporkmoney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction

I don’t like the idea of some government employee deciding who gets what care. But I also know that 40 years ago people weren’t taking all kinds of pills to try to stay alive. I’m not sure dieing gracefully isn’t better than trying to beat the odds. But allow the individual to make that decision.

As for death panels, they already exist, more or less. I know a woman who was sent home from the hospital the other day because Medicare says she can only stay so many days.


11 posted on 09/26/2012 9:40:13 AM PDT by Terry Mross (The Clintons seem to be very afraid of obama. Do they owe him their souls?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dahoser

In a perverse sort of way he is right. If they can’t control costs by rationing and limiting options the entire system comes apart.


12 posted on 09/26/2012 9:40:13 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction

end-of-life consultations were not OFFERED .... they were mandatory

____ Geez, they can’t help themselves from lying even in an article that is overall trying to sort-of tell the truth.


13 posted on 09/26/2012 9:46:17 AM PDT by Lorianne (fedgov, taxporkmoney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction
former Obama official says we NEED death panels
I watched parts of a PBS show last night - Money & Medicine.
And without a doubt, that's the message I got from the show ... we need death panels.
14 posted on 09/26/2012 9:46:57 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Terry Mross
I sure do hope I can live long enough to see Steven Rattner beg for the opportunity to make his own end of life decisions. Liberals and young folks are likely to learn the hard way that if just a little life is all you have left, it's very, very precious.
15 posted on 09/26/2012 9:47:10 AM PDT by July4 (Remember the price paid for your freedom.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction
We need death panels let's start with the whole Obama family as a example and then we will go from there.
16 posted on 09/26/2012 9:50:21 AM PDT by angcat (ROMNEY/RYAN 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ExTexasRedhead

BUT BUT BUT

He said they were only pizza ovens.


17 posted on 09/26/2012 9:52:26 AM PDT by IMR 4350
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ConjunctionJunction
...but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently...

This is code for "making sure politicians and their families go to the head of the line."

18 posted on 09/26/2012 10:02:51 AM PDT by Steely Tom (If the Constitution can be a living document, I guess a corporation can be a person.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: July4

I want to see the looks on lots of liberals’ faces when they’re told to go home and die.


19 posted on 09/26/2012 10:10:30 AM PDT by Terry Mross (The Clintons seem to be very afraid of obama. Do they owe him their souls?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: onyx; STARWISE; SE Mom; hoosiermama; Nachum; maggief

Death panel admission ping!


20 posted on 09/26/2012 10:21:52 AM PDT by penelopesire (TIME FOR A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-32 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson