SO YOU THINK "DEATH PANELS" WAS EXCESSIVE RHETORIC?

You might want to read Canada's National Post article "Choosing Health" on Ontario's recent decision to cut off funding for a serious illness. That is a "death panel", folks!


"Most Canadians believe this [death panels] is a gross exaggeration of reality. But then how to characterize Ontario's decision to cut off funding for colorectal cancer patients taking a life-prolonging drug, in order to save $9-million a year?

Andre Marin, the province's plain-speaking ombudsman, said the decision "verges on cruelty." Marin said the "arbitrary" limit on the number of cycles of the drug Avastin that Ontario will fund forces patients to pay out of their own pockets or abandon treatment."


Now you can call the Ontario bureaucracy who made this decision whatever you want, but if I needed the medicine involved I would call it a "death panel."

No, it is not the same as insurance companies limiting payments on procedures. The difference is not hard to see - even for the strongest ideologue: you can choose another insurance company; you cannot choose another country. This is competition that keeps them honest!

Ask the Canadiens who come here in large numbers of health care! And are looking aggressively for "private options" to solve their single payer failure.