Turned on Morning Joe for a moment this morning after mass and there was Gail Collins, Joe et/al hitting Sarah Palin again over “death panels” like the rest of the media.
No mention of the section of the bill Update: Pat just mentioned it in question or of Charles Lane or even Eugene Robinson (a regular guest) who agrees with their assessment of Palin but is suspicious of the section of the bill.
Sarah Palin not only responds but includes footnotes to those things.
The provision that President Obama refers to is Section 1233 of HR 3200, entitled “Advance Care Planning Consultation.” [2] With all due respect, it’s misleading for the President to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to Medicare recipients. The issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context.
Section 1233 authorizes advanced care planning consultations for senior citizens on Medicare every five years, and more often “if there is a significant change in the health condition of the individual … or upon admission to a skilled nursing facility, a long-term care facility… or a hospice program.” [3] During those consultations, practitioners must explain “the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice,” and the government benefits available to pay for such services. [4]
Now put this in context. These consultations are authorized whenever a Medicare recipient’s health changes significantly or when they enter a nursing home, and they are part of a bill whose stated purpose is “to reduce the growth in health care spending.” [5] Is it any wonder that senior citizens might view such consultations as attempts to convince them to help reduce health care costs by accepting minimal end-of-life care? As Charles Lane notes in the Washington Post, Section 1233 “addresses compassionate goals in disconcerting proximity to fiscal ones…. If it’s all about alleviating suffering, emotional or physical, what’s it doing in a measure to “bend the curve” on health-care costs?”
And she doesn’t even use Just one Minute post that quotes president Obama or Kausfiles.
I think Palin laid a trap here. She used the word death panels knowing the response it would get to bait the media, they responded as expect and now she can counterpunch with the actual bill, talking policy and draw attention to a bad bill.
By being out front on her opposition she when this bill fails she will be one of the political winners. Those town hall attendees are an instant base and even if some bill passes if the provisions of section 1223 are pulled or modified she can claim victory again.
Oh and Harold Ford blamed Republicans for that section just as I started typing this. Shrum is saying it too. When the topic goes from: “This is a lie” to “It was the republicans idea.” then the game is nearly done.
Update: Scarborough says Rush Palin et/al hurt republicans by speaking out. Can someone PLEASE compare the generic ballot from before they spoke out and afterward and get him a copy.
Update 2: Would it shock you to know that the Hemlock Society (now called Compassion & Choices) claims to have had a hand in writing this section? It doesn’t shock me.
Update 3: Can someone please give Joe a link to this post.
Update 4: Doug Brady gets it.
Update 5: Well that’s out of the Bill. Victory lap for Sarah Palin, not bad for “an irrelevant quitter“, Exit question for Joe and Mika: Would this have been removed from the bill if Palin & Rush had never brought it up?
Update 6: Kos is not amused.
