The Senate has dropped a section of the health care reform bill that would have paid the consultation fees for seniors that would provide the tools they need to understand their options regarding end of life decisions.  They did this because of the vicious disinformation spread intently to lead people to believe that the government, given the chance, will kill off Grandma. This was dominating the discussion, instilling fear amongst our seniors and promoted anger in those who oppose this administration to the point that it drowned out all other discussion, so it is being dropped.


According to conservative leader Newt Gingrich, “20%of all medical care occurs in the last 2 months of life”.  He said he gave President Obama “High Marks” for including “Advance Directives”, (also known as a living will), in the health care bill and Newt figured this would save us at least $33 Billion a year.

That was just a couple months ago.  Last week however, Newt decided it was politically expedient not to dispel the disinformation of Death Panels when he had the chance with George Stephanopoulos.  After constant prodding from Stephanopoulos noting that language was not in the bill, Newt dismissed that fact citing the “Slippery Slope” theory.

Senator Grassley, (R-Iowa), has been on record for promoting living wills but choose to placate the base by saying, "We dropped end-of-life provisions from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly," (emphasis added).

In an attempt to keep herself politically relevant, ex-Gov. Sarah Palin denounce this as “Obama’s Death Panels”.  But just last year in Alaska she signed a proclamation declaring April 16, 2008 as, “Healthcare Decisions Day” so “more citizens will execute advance directives to make their wishes known; and fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient.”

The self proclaimed “Mob” of teabaggers who wrap themselves in the flag have attacked this provision as Nazism and has proceeded to “terrorize”, (their words), our representatives at town hall meetings.  These people have been blinded by their hatred of Liberals and the President to the point they are willing to believe anything that supports their fears.  Ridiculous claims that ACORN will receive monthly checks and entitlement to health care for illegals are now the mantra, once again, not in the bill.

So where were these people in 2003 when, 204 Republican members of the House and 42 GOP Senators voted for, and Republican President G. W. Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill with a provision for Medicare to pay for “…counseling the beneficiary with respect to end-of-life issues and care options, and advising the beneficiary regarding advanced care planning."?

So what happened?  Did Medicare set up death panels?  Was Grandma put to death? Were senior’s deemed unproductive and encouraged to die?  Or was there a change in leadership in Washington ?

This has nothing to do with health care and everything to do with politics.  Sen. Jim DeMitt, (R-SC) put it best when he said, ”… if Republicans and conservatives stop Obama on health care reform, it will “break him” and be Obama’s “ Waterloo ”.  It’s a sad day when elected leaders salivate over the demise of a President knowing that every day people are dying without this legislation.

For all their talk of “Family Values” the Religious Right has been surprisingly missing from the Living Will debate knowing this could torpedo the entire bill.  When half of divorces are due to financial issues and half of bankruptcies are due to health care issues, one can summarize this will prevent one in four divorces thus keeping more families intact.  One would think they would support the right to die with dignity.  That they would embrace giving 47 million souls access to health care.  Wasn’t it the healing of the sick that brought Jesus to prominence while he was on earth?  Instead they have joined forces with the medical industry with their own scare tactics that it finances abortions, again not mentioned in the bill.

My parents always taught me that when something sounds unbelievable, it probably is.  We need an honest debate on the merits of the issues.  Not on a contrived notion, scare tactics and outright lies.  Most everyone now has access to the resources to get to the bottom of this.  If you claim to be a Patriot, do your homework.  Become informed.


Terry Masl
Alta Loma

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