Are the real death panels?

It is the greatest health care system only for those that can afford it.

Not really. What you have to realize is that even the panels of people insurance agency bureaucrats who review the costs and benefits of various procedures aren't considering things in terms of "is this person worth keeping alive?", or even "is keeping a person alive worth this much?" (this seems to be the sort of thinking the term implies). It seems to be more on the order of "does this procedure have a high enough chance of keeping the patient alive to justify the cost?" or "do the potential benefits of this procedure outweigh the risks to the patient and the cost?".

I doubt there are panels of people saying "nah, this costs too much, let em die." A lot of transplants are risky operations, and in cases they may only extend life by a matter of a couple of years or so. So there are probably panels of people saying "Well, if we spend $1.5 million to give this person a new heart, there's a 30% chance they'll live another 2 years and a 40% chance they'll die on the operating table. With that same $1.5 million we have an 50% chance of getting a cancer patient another 10 years. We should save the money for the cancer patient." It's not pretty, but when you're dealing with limited funding, you have limited results. Decisions have to be made somehow.

Yes, it is a form of the kind of death panels Sarah Palin was talking about. That is what has to happen when the Government provides health care or anything else. It results in rationing.

*

They HAVE to cut Medicaid programs right now because Obamacare is going to take over, so they have to phase out the system. Idiot.

You poor misguided child. The death panels you speak of was already in the Illinois State Health care program. Who's in charge??

The real death panels are a bunch of bean counters in the insurance head offices--brewer sure picked a great role model, didn't she?

Well, I'm also waiting for the neo-con answer to this. They are oddly quiet.

i would never trust the government to make life decisions for me!!!