Death panels

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the key formulators of Obamacare came out this week saying he wants to die at age 75. He pointed out how the loss of creativity, the increase risk of disability and the high cost of medical care associated with the last years of life are reasons enough to die. When I read this a couple of things passed through my mind and the first was how old is this guy and he is 57 which means he sees 75 as somewhere down the road. While Dr. Emanuel has always opposed terms like death panels, he is well aware that rationing is a necessary part of lowering overall health care cost and was a part of the Obamacare he developed. It involves counseling elderly people regarding end of life treatments and includes panels of experts to set up types of treatment available for various situations. While most people do not like to hear this, it has been going on for many years and will continue. The reason is obvious if you think about it. The country cannot afford to give all medical care available to every person so rationing is the result. Will the superrich still receive all possible care? Yes, but most of us do not fall into that category. I have said before that Obama care will lower the cost of health care by using rationing and high deductibles both of which make sense.