GOP Voted for Death Panels in 2003, page 1
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Topic started on 20-8-2009 @ 09:43 PM by Blackmarketeer
Talk about hypocrisy.

Read this over at Time Magazine how in 2003 the GOP voted in favor of an "end of life" counseling provision in an earlier health care bill (Article source:
Oh, Those Death Panels

You would think that if Republicans wanted to totally mischaracterize a health care provision and demagogue it like nobody's business, they would at least pick something that the vast majority of them hadn't already voted for just a few years earlier. Because that's not just shameless, it's stupid.


Remember the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, the one that passed with the votes of 204 GOP House members and 42 GOP Senators? Anyone want to guess what it provided funding for? Did you say counseling for end-of-life issues and care? Ding ding ding!!

Let's go to the bill text, shall we? "The covered services are: evaluating the beneficiary's need for pain and symptom management, including the individual's need for hospice care; counseling the beneficiary with respect to end-of-life issues and care options, and advising the beneficiary regarding advanced care planning."


Time Magazine also points out that one of the more prolific "death panel" accusers, Sen . Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) who railed against "death panels" recently, voted in favor of precisely this provision in 2003 (H.R.1 Prescription Drug and Medicare Improvement Act of 2003)

This blogger calls Sen. Grassley out on his flip-flop stance when it comes to the government's role in health care:

Grassley told a Panora, Iowa crowd on Wednesday that end-of-life planning “ought to be done within the family and considered a religious and ethical issue and not something that politicians deal with.”

Except that in 2005, Grassley supported government intervention in the case of Terri Shiavo. I'm sure you remember that case. Shiavo was a Florida woman who had suffered brain injuries and had been in a vegetative state for 15 years. Why was it OK for politicians to "deal with" that case?


The question "Why was it OK for politicians to "deal with" that case?" is easy enough to answer - when said politicians want to pander to the religious right.


reply posted on 20-8-2009 @ 10:05 PM by Blackmarketeer
It's dirty politics as usual.

Look at the
voting record and you'll see more GOP senators/congressmen voted for "end of life" counseling in the 2003 bill than DEMs.

Now the GOP refers to these as "death panels". Despicable.


reply posted on 20-8-2009 @ 11:30 PM by drwizardphd
Originally posted by VinceP1974

The problem was the Federal Govt WAS MANDATING THAT THE MEETING HAPPEN.

That is what was objectionable. That the Fed Govt would force this conversation to occur. And the reason for it was for cost savings.


Wrong.

The provision (which by the way was removed from the bill due to all of the misguided hysteria) simply mandated that medicare pay for the counseling once every five years. The actual end of life counseling would have been completely optional, the only thing mandated was that medicare cover at least one session of counseling every five years.



"The only thing mandatory is that Medicare will have to pay for the counseling," said Dau.

For our ruling on this one, there's really no gray area here. McCaughey incorrectly states that the bill would require Medicare patients to have these counseling sessions and she is suggesting that the government is somehow trying to interfere with a very personal decision. And her claim that the sessions would "tell [seniors] how to end their life sooner" is an outright distortion. Rather, the sessions are an option for elderly patients who want to learn more about living wills, health care proxies and other forms of end-of-life planning. McCaughey isn't just wrong, she's spreading a ridiculous falsehood. That's a Pants on Fire.


[url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/23/betsy-mccaughey/mccaughey-claims-end-life-counseling-will-be-requi/]PolitiFact[/ur l]



Originally posted by VinceP1974
Americans are getting dumber and dumber. Can't read. Can't remember. Get all emotional.


You were saying?





EDIT to fix link

EDIT to say the boards are broken

[edit on 20-8-2009 by drwizardphd]

[edit on 20-8-2009 by drwizardphd]


reply posted on 30-10-2009 @ 01:07 PM by marg6043
reply to post by frankensence



Because she is sucking to the ones that will be promoting her future in politics the big insurance companies.
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