Specter Of Death Panels Revealed in Obama Speech

In President Obama's speech to the nation tonight he told the nation to ignore "scare tactics" and then boldly declared that claims about "death panels" was a lie.  Then he went on to say how many people would die if Congress did not pass health care reform and he threatened political warfare against those who opposed him.

He is certainly the master of combining hyperbole and hypocrisy in one speech.

Death panels are a lie, he said, pointing at the camera with a firmness in his voice?  Well he also said this:

And we will also create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead.

The commission can help encourage the adoption of these common-sense best practices by doctors and medical professionals throughout the system.

A government commission which will help encourage common sense "best practices" to identify more waste in the years ahead?  Now where have we heard this before?

And who might Obama put on such a commission?  How about his senior health care adviser, Ezekiel Emanuel who has said this:

White House health care policy advisor Ezekiel Emanuel favors allocating fewer health care resources to senior citizens in order to save money, the Competitive Enterprise Institute discovered today.  In a medical journal article published earlier this year, Emanuel justified rationing health care services based on the controversial “senior death discount.”

“Cost-benefit and comparative-benefit analysis are useful tools and should be used in analyzing regulatory policies,” said CEI Senior Fellow Gregory Conko. “But, when President Obama tells Americans that his health reform proposals, which use the senior death discount, will ensure they get the highest quality care, he’s selling them a bill of goods.” 

Comments

[Greg Westwood]

That's one of the most troubling things about this whole health insurance reform debate. HR 3200 leaves entirely too much to unelected regulators, and whatever it is Obama's been pushing has been even less specific. It boils down to "trust me...and the likes of Ezekiel Emanuel, Kathleen Sebelius, and John Holdren to decide which medical practices are 'common sense' and which are 'waste'." No thank you.