Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) writes in The New York Times about his intentions and the ramifications of a small piece of legislation he added into the health care package.
. . . I found it perverse that Medicare would pay for almost any medical procedure, yet not reimburse doctors for having a thoughtful conversation to prepare patients and families for the delicate, complex and emotionally demanding decisions surrounding the end of life. So when I was working on the health care bill, I included language directing Medicare to cover a voluntary discussion with a doctor once every five years about living wills, power of attorney and end-of-life treatment preferences.
Blumenauer writes that he spoke to several conservative Congressman and that during the mark-up session in the House Ways and Means Committee, “Nowhere was there a single proposal to change the end-of-life language, nor a word spoken in opposition. Not a single word.” Blumenauer writes about how lobbyist Betsy McCaughey and Congresswoman Viriginia Crazy-Like-A-Fox as well as Sarah Palin’s infamous Facebook rant all stoked up the flames of ignorance and falsehoods about what the legislation was to provide — and it wasn’t death panels.
But it all falls on to the doorstep of the media, who “after aiding and abetting falsehood, were unable to perform their traditional role of reporting the facts”, writes Blumenauer.