Palin returns to 'death panels'
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/09/art.fbook1.cnn.jpg caption="Palin is again saying the new health care bill will establish 'death panels.'"](CNN) - Sarah Palin is returning to the two words widely credited with helping to spur angry town-halls on health care reform over the summer: "death panels."
In a Facebook post over the weekend, the former Alaska governor launched into a torrent of criticism about the recently-passed House health care reform bill, including the notion "bureaucratic panels" will ultimately decide who lives and who dies.
"We had been told there were no 'death panels' in the bill either," Palin wrote in the post. "But look closely at the provision mandating bureaucratic panels that will be calling the shots regarding who will receive government health care."
Palin initially backed the death panel claim early last August in comments that sparked many of her supporters, and critics of the health care reform bill as a whole, to publicly express their disapproval at heated town-hall forums across the country.
The words "death panel" are nowhere to be found in the bill, but the phrase soon became among the most searched on Google, and President Obama directly rebutted Palin's claim a week later.
In her recent Facebook post, Palin didn't offer further evidence of the establishment of death panels. The non-partisan FactCheck.org has refuted her argument.
"The fact remains that the bill wouldn't require patients to receive counseling sessions, nor would it require a doctor to offer one. Rather, it modifies Section 1861(s)2 of the Social Security Act, defining what services Medicare will pay for. So if a patient receives a counseling session from a doctor or health care practitioner, he or she doesn't have to pay for it – Medicare will," the organization wrote.
Who actually cares what Palin has to say. There is no honesty in her.
Mike
Yes there are death panels but we call them accountants with the insurance companies. I had a friend that died because they would not give him a bone marrow transplant and he had to wait a year before the could get treatment but he dies after eleven months.
So death panels do exist and they are with the health insurance companies so look closer at what already is in place and stop trying to bring up the boggie man Shara.
Dennis
I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the HATE.HATE.HATE spewed on this woman by the lefties on this site!!! You people are truly pathetic! Everyone has their own right to interpret this bill anyway they see fit based on facts. I suggest the vast majority of whiners pull their heads out of their rears and READ THE BILL!! Face the fact that your opinions have been crafted for you and everything you blame on this woman and the GOP, you are guilty of ten fold....Talk about fear mongering, think about what trial lawyers would lead you to believe about insurance companies!! This is America after all, so any person should have the right to never buy insurance, and then when they get sick, walk into the office one day and expect a private company and their policy holders to absorb all the costs of their treatment, and then further absorb the costs of their malpractice litigation! Call this bill what it is, which is an advancement of an already corrupt and bankrupt social welfare system run amok. Makes good sense for my kids!! NOT!! Stop looking to me and my kids for your handouts!!
Funny thing is, there is only one state in the union that has anything that could reasonably be construed as a "death panel." A statue in Texas (ironically signed into law by then governor George W. Bush) gives hospital administrators the power to pull the plug on patients on life support who are no longer considered "viable" if the family cannot find a new facility to care for them.
The thing that scares me is there are people in this country who actually listen to this idiot. To those people: Sarah Palin is a moron...she is lying...there are no death panels....sheesh...
For those of us who know how to read, Palin is 100% correct.
Not only that, but for those of you (LacrosseMom) who believe 45000 people die every year because they lack health insurance (not true), this bill leaves 3 million uninsured. 45000 will still die (not really) because the Democrats failed in covering eveyone with thie bill.
Do they know exactly when this new health care option goes broke?
Armey was so right on about what he said in an eailier post.
It would be best if CNN and the other media outlets stopped covering ever stupid thing that idiot says or types. She is only still relevant because they make her so.
This woman is totally out of control. It's too bad there's no such thing as death panels because she would be the first one in line!
Will it ever stop with the Sarah stuff?
Let's put the blame where it belongs... JOHN MCCAIN is responsible for giving this stupid woman voice of any kind. Letting a fool talk only encourages him or her. The bigger the fool the more encouraged to babble foolish things they become.
I know this has probably already been said, but here it goes–insurance companies use "death panels." This whole argument that the GOP is clinging to is based on a peer-reviewed article that was co-authored by Ezekiel Emanuel that advocated using a patient's age as ONE factor in deciding whether he should be given access to a limited medical resource (organ transplantation as an example). As with most things written or said that have any political bearing, this has been taken completely out of context by the GOP. The bill that passed in the House allows for a "public option" but it remains to be seen if that aspect will make it to the final draft. I would argue that anyone who takes Palin's argument at face-value is simply taking a shortcut to thinking.
Say good night to the people who still Worship Ronald Raygun Sarah,he never did a thing for the middle class either.
Why does anyone even report what Sarah Palin says anymore???
Someday, when the liberal media tired of ridiculing Ms. Palin, they will realize she is one of the very few to risk ridicule by speaking the truth.
Let us not worry about this fringe group. Majority support health care reform. The 10% which depends on the insurance and healthcare indusrty for their living are opposed to this and let them be.
Senators – get this done right away and move forward with better heatlhcare for all in USA.
Sarah Palin is a nut-job. Its that simple. Lie, obfuscate, mislead, distort– take your pick– these are the Hockey Mom's running mates.
Listen up GOP-this is who you agree with, hence, your party has no credibility...
This is very simple-does she have evidence that backs up her claims? No. So, if there is no evidence, than we should conclude that there isn't a death panel. And we are talking about patient -doctor counseling, not buerocrats doing this. If I was dying, knowing that my illness was terminal, I'd want to decide how I'd like to die- I wouldn't want to be left in a coma. I'd want to die peacefully so my family and friends could grieve, and move on knowing that it was what I wanted. I'm sick and tired of the fear mongering. I'm not afraid, I'm not ignorant, and any fear monger should search their souls.
what in God's name do you think insurance companies are that refuse to cover a cancer patient because of pre existing conditions?...DEATH PANELS!
Why is this woman such a "woodhead"
I am so tired of her fear-mongering and lies! She does not know what she is talking about (but what else is new?). The woman spouts an endless stream of drivel, of gibberish.
Anyone who believes a word out of her mouth is just as dumb as she is, probably.
And yes, if you think the INSURANCE COMPANIES aren't "death panels," then you're wack! At least with a public option, we won't be at the mercy of these callous criminals–the insurance companies–any longer.
Unless, like Republicans do, we choose to let big business trump human concerns.
...""bureaucratic panels" will ultimately decide who lives and who dies".
Dear Ms. Quitter...who do you think controls your (oooopppsss, I mean OUR) healthcare now?
Could it be "bureaucratic panels" whose main concern is making a profit, not whether the best decision is being made for the patient?
This woman never misses an opportunity to portray herself as a completely uninformed moron.
Never could figure out if she jus lies, doesn't know any better or a combination of both. Whatever it is, she is a nationa disgrace and an embarssment to anyone with an i.q over 75. She's smart in a way, though as she's making a mint with all this. Shame Jerry Springer's show is long gone, the Palins would have been perfect.
I fail to see the difference in a Death Board of Directors and a Death Panel....oh right – the executive compensation.