End of life counseling has managed to make it's way into the health care bill, and we will more than likely hear about things like "death panels" in the near future. Now, don't get me wrong, I disagree with the idea that the government pays for such things on an ideological level, however as I've said on my show, the whole "death panels" thing has been a little overblown. The idea behind end of life counseling is that it "allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and painful decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death." (AP, Yahoo! News) Do I think that this is a decision that should strictly be between family members? Yes. Do I think that it is equatable to "death panels"? No.

I also don't think that this is something that we, as tax payers, should be paying for. I couldn't even guess what the costs would be, but at this time Medicare is damn near broke and the extra expenses that this will add to the program won't do anything to help that. Now, as far as "death panels" go, this is where I will agree.

A public option is really just a first step to bringing about a single payer system. Liberal Democrats (most notably Harry Reid) have actually ADMITTED this fact. If a single payer system were to be implemented, that is when I'll begin jumping on the "death panel" band wagon, because at that point our country (which is already heavily in debt) would be dead broke. The medical field would be forced to ration care and make decisions regarding who would receive the care and who wouldn't. How long would it take before the "public option" became a "single payer system"? It's anyone's guess. I'd hope it wasn't in my or my sons' lifetime, but who knows.

However by jumping the gun and screaming "death panel" at the top of our parties collective lung hurts us in the short term. It presents us as kooks and nut jobs and doesn't help our public image. At a time when the party needs to regroup and prove ourselves on an intellectual level, things like this dampen that image and places our brand into a negative light. There are a hundred different reasons to oppose this health care bill (and I certainly hope it doesn't pass) however using the "death panel" analogy doesn't help this cause.

Archived Comments

Kevin Tracy
We had an interesting debate about the George Tiller case, but here's what's bothering me. Generally speaking, Democrats and Republicans are politically moderate. We've just chosen to over focus our attention on the small things that divide us rather than the greater themes that unite us.
Yet, there are some individuals out there on BOTH sides of the political divide who are behaving like Nazis and Communists in Germany's old Weimar Republic. Unless you are a radical about an extremist cause, there is no need to resort to violence in a politically moderate culture such as ours.
Keep up the good work, Travis.

Wickle
I've been saying this for some time. Sadly, there's a segment of the population that considers it being soft on principle to refuse to hate a person.
I was told that I was a liberal because I didn't hope for Ted Kennedy to die painfully.
Having said that, Limbaugh is part of the problem. He's no better, and usually worse, than anyone who might have maligned him. As long as he's the single loudest voice on the Right, don't expect things to get any better.

Travis Gearhart
As far as the Ted Kennedy thing is concerned, I certainly wasn't throwing a party when he died (but I wasn't exactly crying, either). I thought National Review put it best: The only opinion poll he has to worry about now is the one upstairs (not a direct quote, but along those lines). I have to disagree on the Limbaugh part, though. I'm not a daily Limbaugh listener, but if I happen to be driving when he's on I listen, and I haven't heard anything remotely close to defamation. Do I agree with the guy on certain issues? No. But I think the bigger problem isn't what Rush does, but that some of us on the right (myself included) recognize it as partisan entertainment while others take it as gospel.