Today's fact of the day is a fitting one for Friday the 13th, since H.R. 3962 promises to deliver the grim reaper to any patient signed up for the government health plan. Under Section 240 of the bill, insurance companies are required to provide information on "end-of-life planning" to people who are looking to enroll in coverage offered by the health insurance exchange. In the final bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to strip the broader protective language that was adopted in the Energy and Commerce Committee, which means that H.R. 3962 will mandate the distribution of end-of-life materials about assisted suicide options in Oregon and Washington. At the request of Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), the pro-euthanasia organization Compassion and Choices also added "advance care planning consultations" as a new optional Medicare-covered benefit. This would open the door for Medicare to pay for end-of-life consultations that include assisted suicide options in states where it is legal. Both provisions include language that claims these sections don't encourage the promotion of "suicide or assisted suicide." But in crafting their state laws, Oregon and Washington redefined the act of assisting in a suicide as "death with dignity," explicitly stating that such action is not legally considered assisted suicide-even though by medical definition that is exactly what it is. Think such rationing of care could never happen? It already has in Oregon, where patients were told their state provided insurance would not cover treatment but would gladly pick up the cost if they went the assisted suicide route. Just don't call them death panels...(FRC.org)
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