A breathless e-mail is circulating the Internet about ObamaCare’s attempt to badger senior citizens into offing themselves. Here is an example:
On Page 425 of Obama’s health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier.”
As with many Internet rumors, this is not true. But it does have elements of truth to it.
The House Democrats’ health care bill does not compel counseling sessions. It does authorize Medicare to pay for one end-of-life care consultation every five years. Despite what some of the rumor-mongering emails say, there is no provision for “death squads” going from door to door, badgering granny to sign a living will, or even
a requirement in this bill that senior citizens attend such consultations.
Such sessions have nothing to do with assisted suicide, either. Advanced Directives about end-of-life care are not the same thing as assisted suicide or euthanasia. Just about everyone from Peter Singer to Pope Benedict would agree that very sick patients near death can refuse extraordinary or futile medical care.
On the other hand, this provision says something about the broader strategy in ObamaCare for saving money in Medicare.
Patients who discuss end-of-life issues in advance have lower medical expenses in the last week of life, according to a recent Harvard study. And so now we’re going to save money by paying the costs for consultations.
But this provision reinforces the rather frightening perception that “savings” means cutting corners at the end of life. Even though a very large proportion of medical expenses occur at the end of life, large expenses also tend to occur when expensive care saves lives and prolongs them for years or decades. With a cost-cutting approach, that might just happen a bit less often.
