Blogging for the 99% and the preservation of our Democracy against the Corporatists and the Citizens United ruling.
As Gomer Pyle would say, “Surprise, Surprise!”.
Sarah Palin, who burst onto the national scene claiming she was against the “Bridge to Nowhere”, ignored that she had been for the bridge and the earmarks being offered to her state. Only after Congress nixed the ear-mark for the bridge, did Sarah say that she had always been against it.
Guess who scrubbed her web page that included a proclamation about the need for “end-of-life” counseling. You betcha! Sarah Palin actually declared August 16, 2008, to be HealthCare Decision Day, which was designed to have people focus on “end-of-life” decisions, or as she calls them, “Death Panels”:
WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions. WHEREAS, in Alaska, Alaska Statute 13.52 provides the specifics of the advance directives law and offers a model form for patient use.
WHEREAS, it is estimated that only about 20 percent of people in Alaska have executed an advance directive. Moreover, it is estimated that less than 50 percent of severely or terminally ill patients have an advance directive.
WHEREAS, it is likely that a significant reason for these low percentages is that there is both a lack of knowledge and considerable confusion in the public about Advance Directives.
WHEREAS, one of the principal goals of Healthcare Decisions Day is to encourage hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and hospices to participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information to the public about advance directives, as well as to encourage medical professionals and lawyers to volunteer their time and efforts to improve public knowledge and increase the number of Alaska’s citizens with advance directives.
WHEREAS, the Foundation for End of Life Care in Juneau, Alaska, and other organizations throughout the United States have endorsed this event and are committed to educating the public about the importance of discussing healthcare choices and executing advance directives.
WHEREAS, as a result of April 16, 2008, being recognized as Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, more citizens will have conversations about their healthcare decisions; more citizens will execute advance directives to make their wishes known; and fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim April 16, 2008, as:
Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.
Um, Sarah? I don’t want to be picky, but Health Care is two words, not one word like you are using it (“Health Care” not “Healthcare”). If you want to see Sarah Palin’s page which was saved by Google cache, even though Sarah Palin had it deleted, click here.
Newt Gingrich defended Sarah Palin’s use of the term “Death Panels” on Sunday, even though he acknowledged that George Stephanopolous was right in saying that it wasn’t in the bill.
Newt expounded about the horrors of such things, but Matt Taibbi found that Newt Gingrich was also in favor of the end of life, advanced directive planning just a few months ago:
More than 20 percent of all Medicare spending occurs in the last two months of life. Gundersen Lutheran Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin has developed a successful end-of-life, best practice that combines: 1) community-wide advance care planning, where 90 percent of patients have advance directives; 2) hospice and palliative care; and 3) coordination of services through an electronic medical record. The Gundersen approach empowers patients and families to control and direct their care. The Dartmouth Health Atlas has documented that Gundersen delivers care at a 30 percent lower rate than the national average ($18,359 versus $25,860). If Gundersen’s approach was used to care for the approximately 4.5 million Medicare beneficiaries who die every year, Medicare could save more than $33 billion a year.
Health Care Rx: Across the Country, Some Systems Are Getting It Right – Newt Gingrich.
The sad truth is that these programs can never be implemented, according to Gingrich, because of the power of lobbyists, something he knows a great deal about:
We don’t think the politicians can ever fix this because the hospital lobby is so powerful, and the doctor lobby is so powerful, and the pharmaceutical lobby is so powerful, and the medical technology lobby is so powerful…
And we also know — this is the great irony — the best places in America are always less expensive than the worst places. Health is not like jewelry and automobiles. In jewelry and automobiles you pay a lot more to get a lot better. In health, because the best places do it right the first time, they do it very efficiently, they pay real attention to quality, they’re actually less expensive than the places that are bad.
One last thought, when TV news journalists host these discussions and Newt Gingrich starts talking about something *he* doesn’t even believe is true, wouldn’t it be a good idea to do like Matt Taibbi, and use the Google machine to call Newt on his duplicity? I’m just sayin’…
