It pains me to say this, but when the chosen one rebuked those of us who warned of death panels and healthcare rationing under Obamacare, it turns out he was right. There will be no government bureaucrats making life and death decisions about whether-or-not seniors will receive life-saving healthcare.
Of course, what he didn’t tell you in his nationally televised denial was that instead of government bureaucrats, there will be non-government bureaucrats receiving funds from Obamacare that will make those decisions.
In an announcement that received little to no coverage from the Obama Pep Squad – you and I know them as mainstream media – we are seeing how the White House has planned all along for restricting care to seniors and others who fail to give a reasonable return on Obama’s healthcare investment.
In a story carried by the Denver Post, a writer for the Washington Post tells us that the “nation’s organ-transplant network is considering giving younger, healthier people preference over older, sicker patients for the best kidneys.”
Instead of giving priority primarily to patients who have been on the waiting list longest, the new rules would match recipients and organs to a greater extent based on factors such as age and health to try to maximize the number of years provided by each kidney, the most sought-after organ for transplants.
“We’re trying to best utilize the gift of the donated organ,” said Kenneth Andreoni, an associate professor of surgery at Ohio State University who chairs the committee that is reviewing the system for the United Network for Organ Sharing, a Virginia-based private nonprofit group contracted by the federal government to coordinate organ allocation.
Now, is it just me, or do the words “best use” sound like code for “sorry grandma, but you simply won’t live long enough for Uncle Sam to recoup his investment.”
But wait, there’s more.
When questioned about the ethical and moral issues of denying someone life-saving care simply because they are too old or too sick, this Bio-ethicist had this to say.
“It’s a big shift,” said Arthur Caplan, a University of Pennsylvania bio-ethicist. “For a long time, the whole program has been oriented toward waiting-list time. This is moving it away from a save-the-sickest strategy to trying to get a greater yield in terms of years of life saved.”
While this study is specific to kidney transplants, it will have far more reaching implications when it becomes policy.
If adopted, the approach could have implications for other decisions about how to allocate scarce medical resources, such as expensive cancer drugs and ventilators during hurricanes and other emergencies, Caplan said.
So relax, America. When Obama tells you that Obamacare won’t result in the formation of bureaucratic death panels and healthcare rationing, he’s telling the truth.
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