The Patriot Post® · ObamaCare 'Death Panels' Resurrected

When Democrats can’t get their agenda through the legislature via legitimate means, they turn to federal agencies to implement it instead. Case in point: ObamaCare. Leftists scored big with its passage in 2009, but fierce opposition to what became known as “death panels” forced them to abandon a provision that would have granted financial incentives to physicians providing counseling to aging Medicare patients. Now that ObamaCare is “the law of the land,” as the Supreme Court has twice wrongly affirmed, the Department of Health and Human Services is taking matters into its own hands. This week, with the support of the American Medical Association, HHS put “death panels” back on the examination table. Advocates quickly noted it isn’t a mandate. “Rather, the proposed regulation would allow medical providers to bill Medicare for ‘advance-care planning’ should a patient want to have the discussion,” according to the Los Angeles Times. But we were also promised that we could keep our insurance plan if we liked it. The way some conservatives presented death panels in 2009 — ask your doctor if death is right for you — was somewhat of an exaggeration, but it maybe wasn’t so much hyperbole as it was a prediction. Just five years ago, few thought same-sex marriage would be legal in 2015. In fact, Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who now embrace same-sex marriage, once opposed it. For leftists, progress means moving the goal posts when the opportunity is convenient. That’s why the idea of the government making life-and-death decisions isn’t anything to scoff at. Just ask our nation’s veterans.