Fact 1: Health Care Reform Bill Does Not Create Death Panels

I am supposed to be participating in the spiritual discipline of the Sunday afternoon nap. But Jesus and his disciples gleaned a meal and He said it just made sense to get an ox out of the well (always wondered how that happened) on the Sabbath, so I suppose blogging is permissible. This week I will be discussing several lies, and sometimes the liars who propogate them, being used to undermine the effort to reform the health care system in America. Most of the lies are so ridiculous I cannot fathom how anyone would believe them, and worse, repeat them. But I am constantly surprised.

The first lie which received an irresponsible amount of print and airtime was that the proposed health care bill in the House created a system by which elderly citizens were required to meet with a government bureaucrat at regular intervals to discuss which end of life treatments they would qualify for and when the plug was to be pulled by the government for the sake of the public good. This lie eventually evolved into the alleged creation of "death panels" for the aged and disabled, to schedule their death and relieve society of the burden of their continued existence.

There is no such provision. Not even close.

There is a provision that would provide insurance coverage for consultation with one's personal physician regarding end of life medical treatment. The provision is not new. It simply facilitates the elderly in making informed decisions regarding medical directives. It is absolutely voluntary. It is done with one's on physician. It has been supported at some point in the past ten years by most of the congressmen and senators who now oppose it for purely political reasons. It was co-written and co-sponsored by a Republican physician congressman.

All that death panel crap was just a lie. A horrible, fear creating lie. Horrible for the elderly and disabled who heard it from people they trusted. Horrible for the public servants who crossed party lines to try and do something that was obviously good for citizens.

Why the lies? Follow the money. Huge profits will be lost if the system is reformed. Profits that come directly from the insurance premiums and medical bills paid by Americans. Profits that continue to go up because they can. We will always need medical care. And we will pay whatever we have to for it.

So the lies are paid for. By the profiteers. And many of us have bought it. I just don't get it.

If you don't believe government should have anything to do with health care and are willing to let the free market take care of it, or if you are satisfied with the current system, that's great. Everybody is entitled to their opinion.

But don't lie. And don't spread "facts" if you don't know whether they are true or not.

We are better than that. If we deal with the truth, we will come to a good solution.

The only things that need to be allowed to die without further treatment are the lies.

Rest in peace.

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