Pres. Obama told the NY Times David Leonhardt that an “independent group,” like maybe a comparative effectiveness commission, will guide political decisions about what kind of care your dying grandmother receives.
THE PRESIDENT: So that?s where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues. But that?s also a huge driver of cost, right?
I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.
[LEONHARDT:] So how do you ? how do we deal with it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that?s part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance. It?s not determinative, but I think has to be able to give you some guidance. And that?s part of what I suspect you?ll see emerging out of the various health care conversations that are taking place on the Hill right now.
It is very difficult to imagine letting “the country,” i.e., the government, make those decisions for me through any channels. Anybody else remember the movie Logan’s Run?
