Health care reform - no one’s pulling the plug on grandma!
With all the misinformation flying around these days, CSCS’ testimony at a recent hearing tried to dig up the truth about health care reform not pulling the plug on grandma. Couldn’t be further from reality.
After reading Section 1233, “Advance Care Planning Consultation”, in HR3200, it is evident that the idea of “death panels” is totally ungrounded:
Section (5) “actionable medical order relating to the treatment of that individual that”…section (5)(A)(ii), “effectively communicates the individual’s preferences regarding life sustaining treatment (emphasis added), including an indication of the treatment and care desired by the individual;”.
Read the text of the HR3200 yourself
I have a living will and health care proxy. So does my 91 year old mother and other members of my family and friends. It is progress to have Medicare cover the cost of individuals developing their end of life plan with a health care professional and was originally inserted as part of the Medicare Part D legislation passed in 2006 under President George Bush. No one objected to this then and some now objecting voted for this as part of the Medicare Part D legislation without a problem. So, why are the voices so loud opposed to this now? Rather than a “death panel”, this should be called “end of life dignity”.
To read more of Bobbie’s testimony head to our website
Websites providing independent, objective information about health care reform:
- www.kff.org - the Kaiser Family Foundation
- www.politifact.com – a project of the St. Petersburg Times to check the accuracy of certain political statements
- www.factcheck.org – a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center
For more information on HR3200 and Medicare check out the Medicare Rights Center
Wendell Potter, the former head of public relations with Cigna, one of the largest health insurance companies, is now a chief whistleblower speaking out on the abuses of health insurance providers. His interview with Bill Moyers is very revealing as to how the health insurance industry has worked to use less and less money to pay claims and keep the status quo in current efforts to reform health care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv1FwOCNoZ8
What do you think about the health care legislation? Did President Obama’s speech last night address your concerns?
Tags: aging, CSCS, death panels, end of life planning, Health care reform, HR3200, Medicare, Obama, seniors, Wendell Potter