Showing posts with label end of life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label end of life. Show all posts

Friday, August 14, 2009

Good News on the Health Care Bill

I'm not going to do much specific discussion about the Health Care bill on this site - I don't think politics belong behind the pulpit - but I do want to point out something that happened, recently, that I'm glad about.

What's been known as the "end-of-life" provision is being dropped from the bill by "key senators." Yahoo News reports:

A health care bill passed by three House committees allows Medicare to reimburse doctors for voluntary counseling sessions about end-of-life decisions. But critics have claimed the provision could lead to death panels and euthanasia for seniors.

I realize that some pundits have taken this out of context and claimed that the government is trying to set up euthanasia camps and such - I know that it isn't that bad so don't put me in the same category as the over-reactors.

However, I was not happy about this being in the bill. It allows a doctor to be paid simply because they discussed end-of-life therapy - giving doctors incentive to discuss these options with patients when they might have ignored it, otherwise. That's not the kind of incentive I want the government to give people.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments if you think my reaction is appropriate or if I should reconsider this whole thing. Talk to me.