Death Panels? They're already here.

I'm getting a little tired of hearing about Death Panels under any possible under the proposed insurance reform. First, anybody who is talking about Death Panels under any version of the proposed insurance reforms either is just passing along information they have heard without fact checking or they are trying to manipulate peoples opinions by knowingly passing on false facts.

But, with the above in mind, who are we kidding? Every health insurance company, cooperative or government program including medicare already has a Death Panel. What else would you call the policy makers who develop policies that refuse applicants for any reason, deny a procedure, cancel a policy, raise premiums or, in any way, limit a participants treatment. They are already deciding who gets what and to what limit.

People do actually die because of these policies. If that is not a death panel, then what is? The only way to avoid these Death Panels is to provided unlimited coverage to 100% of the people, including illegal immigrants for free. As long as one person is being told what they can and can't have somebody else is deciding their fate. Even the politicians who deny 100% coverage for everybody are enforcing a policy that results in death.