Sarah was half right. The “death panels” do exist but just not in that name and not brought on by Obama. They're a result of 4 decades of Republican & Democratic mismanagement, they're called “profit panels” and at their roots are the medical, pharmaceutical and insurance companies and the lobbies who represent them. The goal is to squeeze the maximum profit out of every individual passing through the web of the health care profession. Profit panels do result in death but this is not a major concern because the “product” is aging and being replaced in geometric proportions.
The pharmaceutical and medical companies and insurance companies have a delicate balance to maintain, to achieve maximum profit for both the drug and medical have to attain maximum pricing and the insurance companies have to balance what is perceived as a “fair and balanced and humane” length of stay, amount of subsidized drugs and treatment but not so much as to infringe on profits. Because of the sheer number of persons being treated, the total lack of actual and applied “compassion” the treatment time, the honor given to drugs and treatment is given shorter and smaller importance. Years ago it was noticed that patients, surgical, child birthing women were being sent home earlier. This was passed off as to be better for the patient and there is an element of truth here, but the bigger truth was to save the insurance companies money, money that they were paying to the medical industry. It's an uncomfortable marriage, the insurance companies and the health industry, but a necessary one, for both to survive. And survive well. The mid-wife of the whole scheme is the lobby industry and the congress. All get paid, and paid very well, and the greater fool theory is intact. The greater fool is, as always, the customer, the ill, the elderly, the taxpayer.
Any kind of meaningful health care will be obfuscated in rhetoric, circular arguments, meaningless dialog, mumbo-jumbo and political double-triple speak. It's easy to see how Sarah became confused. It's all driven by profit, a lot of profit, there is simply to much money in it to do the right thing.
