Jesse Singal at The Daily Beast (link included for completeness, but not recommended) is reviving the idea that Obamacare contemplates no elite panel of experts who will judge what treatments will be available to Americans.
Desperate Measures: Paul Ryan Tries To Revive the “Death Panel” Canard, contains Singal’s complaint that when Paul Ryan said,
“Obama’s health care law “puts a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare who are required to cut Medicare in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors.””
…Ryan has shown mendacity, ignorance or both. The Liberal objection to Ryan’s point is that nowhere in Obamacare is there any required government judgment regarding what treatments a given individual may have. True, but irrelevant. The pretense that a bunch of bureaucrats prohibiting certain treatments for everyone does not constitute a “death panel” is belied by years of exactly such decisions made by Britain’s NHS and, topically, by Ontario’s Health Ministry.
Last-hope prostate drug not funded
There are two tiers of men with advanced prostate cancer in Ontario: Those who get access to a remarkable drug through private insurance, and those who get a death sentence.
The grim news is often delivered at the London Regional Cancer Program to men whose shoulders sag and jaws drop when told Ontario’s Health Ministry has for 15 months refused to pay for a medication covered by every other Canadian province.
For a more comprehensive examination of the question, see this article at The Heritage Foundation:
Comparative Effectiveness Research Under Obamacare: A Slippery Slope to Health Care Rationing
Abstract: One element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the advancement of “comparative effectiveness research” (CER). Intended to compare available treatment options, CER can benefit patients if used for informational purposes only, but it could also be harmful in practice. The expansion of the Medicare bureaucracy under the PPACA will allow the use of CER for more government micromanagement of personal medical decision making—hurting patients, doctors, and the practice of medicine.
…The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has created a quasi-governmental entity, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), to advance CER and its use by doctors, patients, and others.
There are several links in that article which document US government health care “best practice” advice which has already killed people.
If you believe the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute will live up to its Orwellian moniker, I have an almost new solar-panel manufacturing plant I’d like to sell you.