Sarah Palin is for End of Life Planning

I know I've said this before but could these Republicans please realize that their positions are being recorded... but here is a position from Sarah Palin just about 4 months ago...

Healthcare Decisions Day

WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions. WHEREAS, in Alaska, Alaska Statute 13.52 provides the specifics of the advance directives law and offers a model form for patient use.

WHEREAS, it is estimated that only about 20 percent of people in Alaska have executed an advance directive. Moreover, it is estimated that less than 50 percent of severely or terminally ill patients have an advance directive.

WHEREAS, it is likely that a significant reason for these low percentages is that there is both a lack of knowledge and considerable confusion in the public about Advance Directives.

WHEREAS, one of the principal goals of Healthcare Decisions Day is to encourage hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and hospices to participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information to the public about advance directives, as well as to encourage medical professionals and lawyers to volunteer their time and efforts to improve public knowledge and increase the number of Alaska’s citizens with advance directives.

WHEREAS, the Foundation for End of Life Care in Juneau, Alaska, and other organizations throughout the United States have endorsed this event and are committed to educating the public about the importance of discussing healthcare choices and executing advance directives.

WHEREAS, as a result of April 16, 2008, being recognized as Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, more citizens will have conversations about their healthcare decisions; more citizens will execute advance directives to make their wishes known; and fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim April 16, 2008, as:

Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.

Sad and Pathetic but True

Private insurance companies are spending over $1 million DAILY to kill the public option by inventing phony citizen groups, and trying to scare the elderly with lies about euthanasia and pro-lifers with concerns about abortion; they know the only way to kill reform is to get people of good conscience fighting over misinformation, while they laugh all the way to the bank. They don't think very highly of our intelligence.

I have run into a story that is quite ironic, at least to me. A conservative activist in St. Louis was protesting the proposed healthcare reform bill. During the protest things got physical and this activist, Mr. Gladney, got a bit roughed up. He needed medical attention for injuries that were not life threatening. He ended up in a local emergency room to care for these injuries. It later became known that he went to the emergency room because he has no insurance and needed medical care.

Healthcare Debate: Fog of War or Outright Lying

One-sixth of all our government spending is on health care, twice as much as any other country spends out of its budget. Our nation pays $2.5 trillion for care costing $912 billion.

- 11 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aFRY..TvUM2M

I'm open to discussion on this one. Here goes...

There is currently a myth out there that the health care reform bill will allow the federal government to set up "death panels" so that the government overseers can put to death the most extreme (READ: Elderly) health care users.

All of the people voting on this bill are elected officials. Almost everyone admits that most politicians first priority is to get reelected. Passing a law with this provision would make it much more difficult for these politicians to get reelected. Considering that the cohort within the electorate that is most likely to vote are the elderly, this provision makes no sense and is not even close to true.

The provision being misquoted for this scare tactic allows for federal funding of end of life counseling. That is a fancy term for a living will. This provision is really funding individuals , only if they choose, services to create a document that instructs health care personnel and next of kin what health care procedures and lifesaving procedures the individual might desire.

The truth is not nearly as scary as the smear tactics that interest groups are putting out is it...

I'm open to differing opinions on this one.