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Sarah Palin famously warned Americans a few years ago that "death panels" would be part of health care with Obamacare and it would be administered for "cost saving" purposes through the Independent Payment Advisory Board.
She was mocked and "universally discredited" by the far left press, and the Obama Administration.
However, the issue was set aside due to considerable push back by the public and some politicians.
The Los Angeles Times is now reporting, "Six years after end-of-life planning nearly derailed development of the Affordable Care Act amid charges of 'death panels,' the Obama Administration has revived a proposal to reimburse physicians for talking with their Medicare patients about how patients want to be cared for as they near death.
The persistent president is sneaking the "death panel" back into play.
Last month the House of Representatives voted to repeal a portion of Obamacare that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board. That effort was led by Congressman Tom Price (R-Georgia) who also is a medical doctor.
The Independent Advisory Payment Board is appointed by the president.
Dr. Price said, "This board of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats has the power to deny care to seniors by deciding unilaterally what care will be paid for."
The IAPB is tasked with controlling health care costs under Obamacare.
Penny Nance, head of Concerned Women for America, said the [APB] "will ignore the essential problems associated with Medicare and lower costs by rationing treatment to seniors."
She said, "As a result, unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats will decide what treatments our elderly parents receive."
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius argued that the board's authority was limited to "advising Congress," not taking action.
That is simply not true.
Remember MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber, the architect of Obamacare, who said repeatedly on video that they could have never gotten Obamacare through Congress if the people would have understood how it would work---calling regular citizens "too stupid to get it...?"
While President Obama tried to diminish his involvement in the creation of Obamacare following the videos becoming public, we all know now he was integral to its creation. He was the architect.
In addition to calling the citizens "stupid," Gruber also told the elites, "Lets get the people covered and then lets do cost control."
Gruber also said the only way to control costs was to effectively deny treatment. His words: "The real substance of cost control is all about a single thing; telling patients they can't have something they want. It's about telling patients 'That surgery doesn't do any good'..."
Guess who decides what "doesn't do any good" means?
The so-called Advisory Board, not the doctor.
Starting this year---2015--- IPAB is tasked with bringing down medical costs. This board of 15 Obama appointees will be the sole authority over what kind of health care seniors can and cannot get. And their recommendations will carry the force of law.
The Los Angeles Times says Obama's revived proposal to reimburse physicians for talking with their Medicare patients about how patients want to be cared for as they near death.
Just 2 months ago, Jeb Bush, presidential candidate, suggested that Medicare patients should sign so-called advance directives that spell out the care they want if they become incapacitated.
That is the conversation the Obama administration is paying doctors to have with you or your elderly parents.
The intention of the LA Times is to tamp down concerns about the federal government rationing health care.
However, they are in effect drawing attention to what Palin said several years ago. And bringing to the attention of the American people just how the administration will use the "Advance Directives" conversation to nudge the elderly toward death rather than life. And how this committee can actually decide whether aging patients get certain medical services or not---all in the name of 'universal health care" and "cost saving" for the greater good.
The Times goes to great length to dispel the idea of "death panels" by once again attacking Palin.
Death Panels, however, is exactly what this is. And this time it isn't only Sarah Palin calling it out.
Burke Balch, director of the National Right to Life Committee, warns the administration is only paying lip service to honoring individual preferences in so-called Advance Care Planning.
She says, "In practice, the pervasive focus is to nudge patients to agree to say no to life saving medical treatment, even assisted feeding through the provision of unbalanced, distorted and even inaccurate information, and this is being openly promoted as a means of slashing health care spending."
Balch says the administration is ignoring public rejection of the provision as the Affordable Care Act was being debated. "But now," she says, "it's being sneaked back into the controversial law."
While the Board continues to publicly deny the power the president has given this chosen few (15), both they and the president know they can and will influence how citizens are given medical treatment.
Tony Perkins with Family Research Council has said that IPAB can very well lead to deciding life or death for certain citizens.
He says "The Board could deny payment for certain care or medications, change the service options doctors have, and drive expensive, live-saving treatments out. Instead of discussing the options with your doctor, IPAB will be sitting at the controls in Washington making health care decisions for you."
Burke Balch says, "In short, the Board will play a crucial role in limiting the ability of Americans of all ages to spend their own money to save their own lives. While public attention seems focused on the Board's impact on Medicare, too many overlook how it is charged with crafting measures that will result in the denial of life saving medical treatment---rationing---for people of any age."
"And the only way to stop it," she says, "is for legislators to hear from their constituents and say, 'We do not want the federal government, our tax dollars, being used to try to push people to die prematurely'."
I encourage you to call or email your Senator and US Representative and tell them you strongly oppose the Independent Payment Advisory Board and want it abolished.
Tell them you do not want your tax dollars being used to influence people to die prematurely.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.
