Are There Really Death Panels?

Today I’m going to look at health insurance and insurance company failures to pay for chemotherapy for those in an advanced stage of cancer. There’s been a lot of talk about death panels and some have said that socialized medicine would lead to that. Well, Folks: we have death panels right now! Brought to you by your very own insurance companies! 

A case in point: According to the California Nurses Association, “The Oregon Health Plan rations covered procedures under certain circumstances. Chemotherapy…is not provided if it is deemed to have a 5 percent or less chance of extending the patient’s life for five years.” This means that a patient whose life might be extended a year or two with chemo may not receive it.

Worse, assisted suicide is covered under state law. So when two recurrent cancer patients were rationed out of receiving life-extending chemotherapy… an administrator wrote a letter assuring them that the state would pay for the costs associated with their assisted suicides. Talk about a death panel! 

The National Health Service in England, which is the model for Obamacare, has banned 6 drugs for breast cancer! In the Affordable Care Act, there’s a spending growth limit for Medicare! According to an article in Surgery Litigation and Law Weekly, insurers in California deny 21% of claims. And the time lost fighting with insurance companies means lives lost! 

Personal Example

A friend was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. She had only recently gotten a job with insurance benefits. She got an oncologist after going to an emergency room and was diagnosed. She received two chemotherapy treatments, fighting the insurance company for every one! 

This was ok until they denied further treatment! Tired of fighting the insurance company, the doctor suggested hospice care. Insurance companies gain millions at the cost of your life, unless you can afford to pay out of pocket! Are you prepared?

References

Anonymous. (2009). California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee

California’s Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 21% of Claims. Surgery Litigation & Law Weekly, p. 34

Joondeph, B. (2015). Death panels: Alive and well. American thinker. Retrieved from https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/01/death_panels__alive_and_well.html 

Smith, W. J. (2011). About those death panels. Weeklystandard.com Retrieved from https://www.weeklystandard.com/wesley-j-smith/about-those-death-panels