The Christmas day story in the New York Times continues to send shockwaves.
Unbeknownst to no one except a select group of supporters, tucked in a 692-page Medicare fee schedule was language to pay for "end-of-life" counseling.
When the Times' Robert Pear wrote about the Medicare regulation, defenders of the Obama Administration immediately went into overdrive to protest the regulation's innocent intention.
For example, a story in yesterday's POLITICO insists the counseling is "voluntary" and that there is (at this point) no "script," altogether missing the objections of organizations such as NRLC.
For starters, the Obama Administration is trying to accomplish by administrative measures what it couldn't accomplish (because it was taken out) in the final ObamaCare law. There is a reason such "counseling" was omitted: the public was properly enraged.
For another, the final statutory version of ObamaCare authorizes Medicare coverage of a yearly "wellness visit." But under the new regulation, which had gone undetected, as of January 1, the annual visit will now cover "voluntary advance care planning" to discuss end-of-life treatment which critics worry may include authorization to withhold lifesaving medical treatment, food and fluids.
A major reason critics were alarmed at the original House proposal (Section 1233) is that they feared it meant that efforts would be made to cut down on health care costs by convincing elderly people to forego expensive treatment.
The irony is that the conclusion of the POLITICO story eagerly talks about the cost-containment potential of the new change. After including assurances that the Medicare regulation "is not about rationing care or saving money, it's about making sure patients understand what options are available before there is a health care crisis," the reader is immediately told "this benefit might save money for the Medicare program over time" by an unidentified Senate aide.
"'If people take advantage of it, it could save billions for taxpayers,' the aide said, by respecting the wishes of people who realize that Medicare coverage is available for end-of-life counseling, as well as for hospice and palliative care."
Contact: Dave Andrusko
Source: National Right to Life
Publish Date: December 29, 2010
