Palin: Obama 'Misleading' Public on Proposed End-of-Life Care

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said President Obama is "misleading" the public about his health plan that she says would create a "death panel" to deny care to the neediest Americans.

In a Facebook posting Wednesday evening, she also said Obama is making light of concerns over the end-of-life counseling proposed in the Democratic-sponsored health care plan, and that the branding of the counseling as "voluntary" isn't so cut and dried.

A health care bill passed by three House committees allows Medicare to reimburse doctors for  counseling sessions about end-of-life decisions. But critics have claimed the provision could lead to death panels and euthanasia for seniors.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Thursday that the provision had been dropped from the Senate version now under consideration because it could be misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly.

Obama on Tuesday said the Democratic health care legislation would not create "death panels" to deny care to frail seniors -- or "basically pull the plug on grandma because we decided that it's too expensive to let her live anymore," as the president put it.

Rather, Obama contended the provision that led to such talk would only authorize Medicare to pay doctors for counseling patients about end-of-life care if they want it.

But Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, wrote that the provision reads otherwise and will lead to health care rationing.

"With all due respect, it's misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to Medicare recipients," she wrote. "The issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context."

Palin cited one section of the bill that says if a patient has a change in health condition or moves to a nursing facility or hospice then practionoers must explain the end of care options that the government will pay.

"Now put this in context. ... the consultations "are part of a bill whose stated purpose is 'to reduce the growth in health care spending.' Is it any wonder that senior citizens might view such consultations as attempts to convince them to help reduce health care costs by accepting minimal end-of-life care?" she asked.

Palin also referred to Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahmn Emanuel, who wrote that some medical services should be provided on a "priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated."

"President Obama can try to gloss over the effects of government authorized end-of-life consultations, but the views of one of his top health care advisers are clear enough," she wrote.

"It's all just more evidence that the Democratic legislative proposals will lead to health care rationing, and more evidence that the top-down plans of government bureaucrats will never result in real health care reform," Palin wrote.