[disabled]

> Whoever spread that “death panels” meme should be forced to write America a check for five hundred billion dollars.

Alaska governor and 2008 Republican Vice President candidate Sarah Palin started the “death panels” farse.

See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_panel

It’s quite disgusting as she is a mother with a disabled child.

[code_duck]

What I found odd about that discussion or claim is that we have essentially the same system already, but it's operated by for-profit corporations rather than the government. As you probably know, insurance companies will fight you literally to your death to avoid paying for treatments that doctors say are necessary.

[gruez]

>It’s quite disgusting as she is a mother with a disabled child.

how is that disgusting? that seems entirely consistent with her beliefs, as disabled child means high costs which potentially could mean getting denied care on the basis of cost. it's not any different than say, "congresswoman with cancer pushes for cancer treatment funding bill".

[germinalphrase]

Because the core issue was about helping people put their own end of life wishes in writing and establish a will? It was never about a panel choosing care on behalf of someone else.

[gruez]

It was? From the wikipedia article

>[...] proposed legislation would create a "death panel" of bureaucrats who would carry out triage, i.e. decide whether Americans—such as her elderly parents, or children with Down syndrome—were "worthy of medical care"

I'm not sure how you got estate planning and/or medical euthanasia from that.

[germinalphrase]

I’m not saying anything about medical euthanasia, but - to your question - the Wikipedia article is inaccurate:

“Governor Palin’s Facebook post was about a proposal in the ACA that would allow Medicare to pay for patients to discuss living wills and other end of life issues with their doctor. Her statements helped create a huge political and public outcry that resulted in the language being removed from the final legislation and proves the impact and relevance of her statement. “In 2011, the Obama administration even deleted all references to end-of-life planning in a new Medicare regulation when opponents interpreted the move as a back-door effort to allow such planning.”

The IPAB was even specifically limited from making recommendations around healthcare rationing:

“ The ACA also places limits on the authority of the IPAB. The ACA states, “[t]he IPAB may not recommend rationing of healthcare, raising Medicare beneficiary premiums, cost sharing, or modifying eligibility criteria.”42 This is totally contrary to the “death panels” claim made by Governor Palin and illustrates the concern and confusion over the IPAB’s statutory and regulatory role. Also, Medicare specifically “withholds the power to regulate the practice of medicine from the federal government.” The IPAB has significant limitations on the scope of its proposals. So, as per ACA law, the IPAB cannot submit any proposals that would “ration care, modify Medicare eligibility criteria, raise costs to beneficiaries, change cost sharing for covered services, or restrict benefits in any way.”

Source: https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&htt...

[disabled]

Dude, seriously just shut up.

I am physically and medically disabled and I am of childbearing age.

I require an orphan drug (a blood product from paid blood donors which contains the pooled antibodies from tens of thousands of people, as required by FDA regulation) which quite literally costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, under contract by insurance, just so I can stay alive, as I have an immune mediated rare disease. Last time I checked my insurance statements (before I left the US for good in early 2020), my insurance (Medicare, by the way) was paying $275,000+/year under contract for the medication.

Clearly the US can afford it. We just choose to treat our elderly like garbage.

I hope you recognize how hypocritical you actually are.

[shadilay]

If you're not paying for it then someone else is. The question is how many net contributors does it take to pay for you? Hundreds? Thousands?

[disabled]

Dude I paid for it via my FICA taxes. It’s called being on SSDI (which is an ENTITLEMENT program which allows you to have Medicare). In other words, I paid enough into the system to receive such care. It is an entitlement program, not a welfare program.

However, there are 2 disability programs. The other one is called SSI (a means tested program) which is a form of WELFARE (which I am NOT eligible for). You have to be very indignant to be eligible for Medicaid, which is likewise an insurance program. However it can be quite a shitty insurance plan depending on the state you live in, and it can end up being life or death for many disabled. As I said, this situation depends on which state you live in, which is unacceptable and disgusting and it really shows how much one cares for their fellow Americans.

You are basically an idiot for being unaware of the semantics of these two programs as you can become disabled at any time. I suggest you actually spend some time on SSA.gov to learn more.

Also, how dare you talk shit about the cost of my medication. As I said it’s an entitlement program obtained via working (except in very rare cases like End Stage Renal Disease). It is in no way my fault that the government actuaries did not do their jobs properly so that we were properly taxed for such things in the first place. I don’t get it: the American public, assholes like you, think it’s OK to talk shit about the cost of my precious lifesaving medication. Yet, the American public does not do anything to compel congress to negotiate the prices of such lifesaving medications.

By the way, I fight back against this BS about the cost of medications all the time. It’s called reading patents and going through engineering school. Trust me, I know how much these medications actually cost. So yeah, I talk shit about it all the time to people like healthcare lawyers fighting the system.

But seriously, it’s called America and I have a right to this medication whether you agree with it or not.

Also, Americans lack the reasonable expectation that someone will care for them. So, there’s a baseline anxiety and fear that dominates our politics which can end up being quite sadistic.

This situation in its entirety is quite unique in the developed world, and Americans have not gotten their act together. I mean, I even get much better care for my type 1 diabetes (autoimmune and insulin dependent) in Croatia, which I am a citizen of. Because of being Croatian, the world is really my oyster and it confers me Freedom of Movement rights as I am a European Union citizen due to being Croatian. So I can live in 27 EU countries and more, where I am conferred far more rights, including with respect to healthcare.

Most importantly, I don’t have to put up with bullshit drama from Americans like you who think it’s OK not to care for their fellow citizens.