Pro-Life Leaders Want Congress to Overturn Death Panel Regs

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Shhhh) Sends Memo Urging Lefties to Keep Quiet About Death-Panel Provision They Snuck Into ObamaCare Aft
(The Hill)- Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is distancing himself from a memo sent by his office that urged health reform advocates not to advertise new end-of-life counseling Regulations to avoid reviving talk of “Death Panels.” Blumenauer now says he regrets the letter’s secretive language, which has only bolstered Conservatives’ claims that the Obama Administration tried to sneak the provision in under the radar. “If I had seen the memo, I would have suggested it ...

"Fox & Friends" Revives "Death Panel" "Controversy"
As the saying goes, the two certitudes in life are death and taxes. But the republican right seems to be seeking to avoid both. While normal, rational, sentient beings have no problem with the idea of long term care planning, which includes things like durable power of attorney and end of life directives, the Right Wing doesn't seem to want to deal with it - especially if it involves speaking to your doctor about it. (Better to have families fighting about "pulling the plug" so that Fox can have...

Rationing Revealed at the Heart of Obamacare
If you like police officers having quotas for speeding tickets, you will love the Obama Administration's new Health Care Regulations. Doctors are going to be paid for giving "end-of-life counseling," one version of what was labeled as "Death Panels" during the Health Care debate this last spring. Combining this with ObamaCare giving doctors a financial incentive for withholding medical care as well as financial penalties if they give out too much care, it is easy to see where things are going an...

Move over Lincoln, Papa Obama is in town
Most exciting news today! Papa Obama is bringing our progressive movement closer to a social utopia. A gov't that exists by Regulation alone, yes indeed. Elections, the people, legislative process etc are highly over-rated and so...so bourgeois. Most people don’t remember ObamaCare’s notorious Section 1233, which mandated government payments for end-of-life counseling. It aroused so much anxiety as a possible first slippery step on the road to state-mand...

Obama's recess appointment that makes sense
I gave President Obama some grief last summer for bypassing the Senate and making a precipitous Recess Appointment for Donald Berwick, his choice to oversee the Medicare and Medicaid programs. I have a completely different take on the president's latest such move, to issue a Recess Appointment for James Cole to serve as deputy Attorney General, the No. 2 position at the Justice Department. This time around, the maneuver was justified. My assessment has nothing to do with the individuals or po...

Dem regrets language in memo on death panels that reignited debate
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is distancing himself from a memo sent by his office that urged health reform advocates not to advertise new end-of-life counseling Regulations to avoid reviving talk of “Death Panels.” The weeks-old memo recommended that end-of-life advocates celebrate a “quiet” victory out of concern that Republican leaders would “use this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’ myth.” Blumenauer now says he regrets the letter's secret

Government By Regulation...Shh!
WASHINGTON -- Most people don't remember ObamaCare's notorious Section 1233, mandating government payments for end-of-life counseling. It aroused so much anxiety as a possible first slippery step on the road to state-mandated late-life Rationing that the Senate never included it in the final Health Care law. Well, it's back -- by administrative fiat. A month ago, Medicare issued a Regulation providing for end-of-life counseling during annual "wellness" visits. It was all nicely buried amid the ...

Krauthammer op-ed: Government by Regulation. Shhh!
Most people don't remember ObamaCare's notorious Section 1233, mandating government payments for end-of-life counseling. It aroused so much anxiety as a possible first slippery step on the road to state-mandated late-life Rationing that the Senate never included it in the final health-care law. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and...

"Die Quickly"
"Die Quickly" by digby Alan Grayson took a lot of grief for saying that the Republican Health Care plan was "Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly." But he was right. Here's Gene Lyons, who begins his essay with the sad tale of having to euthanize his sick horse because it would be too expensive to keep him alive: Long introduction, brief polemical point: Observing Republicans gear up to try to undo "ObamaCare," I suspect the only thing that will satisfy some is to make medical...

Medicare agency creates quality standards for kidney disease treatment
The Medicare agency has issued new regulations rewarding high-quality care for end-stage renal disease, a condition whose treatment has come under heavy criticism because the Federal Government pays more but gets worse outcomes than many other countries. The new regulations establish performance standards and payment incentives required under a 2008 Medicare law. Payments under the newly created Quality Incentive Program are set to begin Jan. 1, 2012. The new regulations aim to replace the cur...

Medicare to swell with Baby Boomer onslaught
WASHINGTON — Baby Boomers are about to create a record population explosion in the nation's Health Care program for seniors. Starting on Saturday, 20 years of Baby Boomers begin turning 65 and qualifying for Medicare — one every eight seconds. A record 2.8 million will qualify in 2011, rising to 4.2 million a year by 2030, projections show. In all, the government expects 76 million boomers will age on to Medicare. Even factoring in deaths over that period, the program will grow from 4...

In a Year of Deep Disappointments, The Deepest: Obama Pledged to Protect Internet Freedom; But His FCC Put It At Risk
Despite President Obama’s promise to defend a free and open Internet from corporate control, his appointees to the Federal Communications Commission ended the year by embracing a version of Net Neutrality that advocates accurately refer to as “toothless” and “bitterly disappointing.” John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Beat since 1999. His posts have been circulated... The democratic Socialist senator from Vermont has plenty online backing ...

The ObamaCare Fraud
There are a great many things wrong with ObamaCare, but the biggest is perhaps one that neither party is paying any attention to: It is one huge entrapment scheme that will turn patients and providers into criminals. The most blatant example of this is in the “doc fix” that Congress passed with major Bipartisan support earlier this month, saving doctors from a nearly 23 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement that they would have otherwise faced this year. Congress has been passing this fix ev...

Shocker: Census shows states with low taxes have higher growth
Michael Moon on Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Shhhh) Sends Memo Urging Lefties to Keep Quiet About Death-Panel Provision They Snuck Into ObamaCare After it Was Passed… Junius on Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Shhhh) Sends Memo Urging Lefties to Keep Quiet About Death-Panel Provision They Snuck Into ObamaCare After it Was Passed… whthfk on Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Shhhh) Sends Memo Urging Lefties to Keep Quiet About Death-Panel Provision They Snuck Into ObamaCare After it Was Passed… Chunk on...

Political fight looms over emissions plan
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The Obama Administration and Congress face a battle over Regulation of climate-altering gases produced by factories and Power Plants, observers say. The first phase of Regulation will go into effect Sunday, but congressional Republicans are warning of a backlash if the administration tries to move too far or too fast in its efforts to reduce Greenhouse Gases, The New York Times reported Thursday. But there are risks for Republicans as well if they move to hamper the ...

Defeated RINO Congressman: Credible Conservative Dont Hate Obama or Call Him a Socialist
Michael Moon on Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Shhhh) Sends Memo Urging Lefties to Keep Quiet About Death-Panel Provision They Snuck Into ObamaCare After it Was Passed… Junius on Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Shhhh) Sends Memo Urging Lefties to Keep Quiet About Death-Panel Provision They Snuck Into ObamaCare After it Was Passed… Hence the reason ex-Rep. Bob Inglis was crushed in the GOP primary… (The Hill)- Outgoing Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) said Thursday that a “credible conservative&...

Perks, bad paperwork cost DMC $30 million
The DMC agreed to pay the Federal Government $30 million to settle allegations that it engaged in improper financial relationships with referring physicians, offering them Kickbacks in some cases in the form of cheap rent, sporting event tickets or free promotional materials. Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanguard, which already had agreed to cover $20 million in liabilities, will cover the entire bill, according to DMC President and CEO Mike Duggan. CEO weig...

E.P.A. Limit on Gases to Pose Risk to Obama and Congress
The E.P.A. is set to regulate Greenhouse Gases from sources like this electric plant in Wisconsin. By JOHN M. BRODER NYT WASHINGTON — With the federal government set to regulate climate-altering gases from factories and Power Plants for the first time, the Obama Administration and the new Congress are headed for a clash that carries substantial risks for both sides. While only the first phase of Regulation takes effect on Sunday, the administration is on notice that if it moves too far and ...

Death panels are just the first step
Sarah Palin deserves an Apology. When she said that the new health-care law would lead to "Death Panels" deciding who gets life-saving treatment and who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed. Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers -- the New York Times -- that she was right. Under a new policy not included in the law for fear the administration's real end-of-life game would be exposed, a rule issued by the recess-appointed Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers...

Yankee Ingenuity
New rules go into effect in January: The MLR goes into effect in January 2011. The law requires that large-group plans spend 85 percent of premiums on clinical services and activities related to quality of care. Only 15 percent can go to other items, such as administrative costs, advertising and profits. For small-group and individual plans, the ratio is 80 percent premiums and 20 percent other costs. If insurers fall short of the standards in 2011, they’ll have to issue rebates for th...

Right Wing Pushes Super Death Panel Myth
Conservatives though are already decrying the decision as the return of the Death Panels. Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel condemned what he called “a super death panel” that will put “pressure on the elderly to end their lives prematurely” by targeting Senior Citizens: When you have the government mandating this end-of-life counseling, they're conscripting doctors to do end-of-life counseling on a massive scale. It will be the equivalent of a super death panel. Elderly pati...

Republican Right Silent on Real Arizona Health Care Death Panel
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Blumenauer Blames Staff on Death Panel Memo: Memo, What Memo?
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Medicare launches Web tool to help patients find a doctor
The Medicare agency on Thursday launched an online tool that contains information about doctors and other medical professionals who participate in Medicare, the first step toward rating physicians. The "Physician Compare" feature was required by Democrats' Healthcare Reform law. It contains information about physicians' practices and lets patients know whether the doctors have opted to share quality-of-care data with the Federal Government. The Healthcare Reform law also requires the Centers f...

A Recess Appointment That Makes Sense
I gave President Obama some grief last summer for bypassing the Senate and making a precipitous Recess Appointment for Donald Berwick, his choice to oversee the Medicare and Medicaid programs. I have a completely different take on the president’s latest such move, to issue a Recess Appointment for James Cole to serve as deputy Attorney General, the No. 2 position at the Justice Department. This time around, the maneuver was justified. My assessment has nothing to do with the individuals or...