Obama Takes On Rationing, 'Death Panel' Rumors

... they're being run by insurance companies

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin thinks health care reform will bring with it “death panels,” collections of bureaucrats who will ration care, deciding whose life is and isn’t worth saving. The flaw in that logic? “That’s not the future of health care—it’s the present,” writes Mike Madden for Salon. According to the AMA, the country's biggest insurance companies denied 2% to 5% of claims last year, often with heartbreaking or outrageous results. More»

Action on curbs didn't make final cut, leaving 'very big loophole'

(NEWSER) - Turns out the big health care reform bill doesn't actually rein in those out-of-control premium rate hikes. The Democrats used outrage over whopping increases to corral support for the overhaul, but the bill doesn't deliver, finds the Los Angeles Times , because it doesn't give the government the regulatory authority. "It is a very big loophole in health reform," says Sen. Dianne Feinstein. More»

Lowering health care costs means cutting unnecessary end-of-life treatment

(NEWSER) - Nobody wants to talk about rationing health care, but “the need to spend less money on the elderly at the end of life is the elephant in the room in the health-reform debate,” Evan Thomas writes in Newsweek. To expand coverage and lower costs, Americans must overcome their urge to extend life at any price, and “learn to contemplate death as more than a scientific challenge to be overcome.” More»

Mr. Obama goes to Washington

(NEWSER) - A joint session of Congress might not have been the perfect setting for Barack Obama's health care reform speech last night, writes Washington Post critic Tom Shales. All that "pomp, circumstance, and folderol," including 16 minutes just to get to the lectern, may have led voters to change the channel. Yet for those who watched, Obama came across as a "bright, ambitious young president up against the stodgy old defenders of a corrupt status quo"—a Jimmy Stewart figure in the halls of power. More»

(NEWSER) - Town hall crazies, you have met your match. Rep. Barney Frank had no time for a woman who asked why he supported Barack Obama's "Nazi" policies, calling it "vile, contemptible nonsense" and asking, "On what planet do you spend most of your time?" When the questioner pushed back, the House Financial Services Committee chair dismissed her: "Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table." More»