No need to call them death panels

There are no death panels, are there?

Why did Obama adviser Cass Sunstein say, If a program would prevent fifty deaths of people who are twenty, should it be treated the same way as a program that would prevent fifty deaths of people who are seventy? Other things being equal, a program that protects young people seems far better than one that protects old people, because it delivers greater benefits.

Why did Robert Reich said, this is what a candidate will never say, but what a candidate should say. We are going to have to, if you're very old, we're not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple years of your life to keep you going for another couple months.

It's too expensive. So we are going to let you die.

What did Barack Obama mean when he said, What we can do is make sure that at least some of the waste that exists in the system that's not making anybody's mom better, that is loading up on additional tests or additional drugs, that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care, that at least we can let doctors know, and your Mom know, that you know what, maybe this is not going to help. Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the pain killer.

And what did Barack Obama mean when he said, The idea is actually pretty straightforward, which is if we've got a panel of experts, health experts, doctors, who can provide guidelines to doctors and patients about what procedures work best in what situations, and find ways to reduce, for example, the number of tests that people take?

Well OK, nobody ever explicitly mentioned the term death panel, but you get the idea, Grandma!

Bill Hartman

Barrington