By now everyone who is following the health care reform debate is aware of the controversy surrounding end-of-life care. Some critics have said the government wants to establish "death panels" to make decisions about when medical care for the elderly would be cut off. Others have gone so far as to suggest the reform plans would promote euthanasia and assisted suicide.
That interpretation was condemned by President Obama and supporters of reform as a scare tactic. They point out that the House reform bill contains a provision that would allow doctors to bill Medicare for optional consultations on end-of-life care every five years, but the decision to request such a session would be at the patient's discretion, not mandated.
Why has the controversy had such staying power? And how does end-of-life care fit into the effort to reform health care?
The answer to the first question may be wrapped up in the discomfort many Americans feel about confronting mortality and its unknowns.
The answer to the second is even more complex and touches off genuine concern about the whether cutting the cost of health care is going to be done by cutting services to the elderly.
This week on "
Colorado State of Mind" we'll talk it over with a group of professionals who work with terminal patients and their care providers. We'll ask them to explain exactly how counseling about death and dying is meant to help individual patients and their families, but also how that knowledge affects society as a whole. And, since so much of the health care reform effort is aimed at holding down cost increases, how does effective counseling about end-of-life help to accomplish the goal?
What are your thoughts, and what questions do you have? Share them here, and then tune in for "Colorado State of Mind," Friday evening at 7:30.
-Cynthia Hessin, Rocky Mountain PBS
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rmpbs.org/health for real-life health care stories, blogs and resources.
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