well, duh.
this is the main cost driver - medical procedures done when it is already totally unnecessary - has been known for years that the main medical expenditure is in the last 2 weeks of life. Statistically.
Could write volumes on this.
HOWEVER.
Even if that is so extremely expensive and unnecessary I do object that some bureaucrats or even some with medical education will have the power to decide what is going to benefit the patient and what is not.
NO. Because medicine is NOT a math and 2x2 is not always 4.
Beware of the half-truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.
Seymour Essrog
Volumes? Do you know what conservatives did to destroy cost savings in the health care bill?
Almost 30% of Medicare costs are incurred in the last year of a person's life. The ACA originally had a provision to pay doctors to provide advice to patients about their end-of-life care options.
The health care bill would have provided Medicare coverage of annual physical exams, and the new rule adds the provision that reimburses consultation about advance directives as part of that wellness visit.
But, then the ignorant Sarah Palin turned it into death panels. The issue of death panels became so hot during the debate on health-care reform legislation that Democrats decided to pull that provision from the bill.
Here is the TRUTH...
Promoting advanced directives puts decisions in proper hands
It’s hard to imagine how a compassionate, family-friendly measure — a measure that ultimately respects individual rights — could be twisted so grossly into the erroneous phrase “death panels.”
But, prepare yourself for more lies and more nonsense, because President Barack Obama has decided to do the right thing — and his critics already have resorted to fear-mongering and name-calling.
The concept of advanced directives was pioneered in La Crosse, thanks to our two first-class health care institutions.
It’s a simple concept: An individual, with the help of family, should have the ultimate say in the type of end-of-life care the individual receives. The best way to do that is through a careful consultation, with family and physician, before there is a health crisis — while the individual is still capable of having a rational voice in the decision.
Too often, those decisions are made when it’s too late for the individual to make the decisions. Instead, grieving family members are left to make the decision — and at times it’s nothing more than a guess.
Would the individual want extraordinary measures taken when the end is near? Why wouldn’t we trust the individual — in advance and when thinking clearly — to make that decision?
For those who crusade for the rights of the individual, here’s the question: Why are you so opposed to the individual being able to set down on paper, with help from family and physician, the standards and wishes for end-of-life care?
more
