No death panels for me

So while I should be re-reading my paper on local tax options, I find myself obsessed with the mayhem which seems to be the healthcare debate. I don't think people protesting is a bad thing but the ridiculousness of the claims and allegations is preposterous. Yes, you have time to get all philosophical while laying on a table every morning getting zapped with radiation.

How did paying for optional counseling about end-of-life issues turn into mandatory meetings with death panels? Thus far every time I've been in the emergency room or hospital, I'm asked about whether I have an advanced directive, whether I want to have an advanced directive, whether I want to talk to someone about having an advanced directive and given I don't have an advanced directive what do I want them to do in terms of resuscitation and emergency care, in case things go horribly, horribly wrong. I always say I don't want them to get there and if they manage to put me in a vegetative state while getting my arm x-rayed I won't be happy and but I don't need extraordinary measures.

I've never felt like I was being pressured to say not to try and save my life, and I do understand why people don't want to think about these things. BUT doctors and staff ALREADY need to have this conversation so what we are talking about is paying for it. It is probably time for me to just fill out the paperwork because while I never want to think about these issues - having your wishes spelled out can't hurt.

My colleague Howard is more eloquent and has been thinking about end of life issues for a long time. If things are at a point where you can't answer these questions, it seems like having the option to have a conversation about what the different measures that may be taken would be a good thing.

Second set of crazy, how do people believe medicare isn't a government program? That's government money paying for your health insurance - yes you paid payroll taxes all those years but probably not enough to cover the actual cost of 40 years of health care. Are those protesting against a public option while saying it threatens medicare really not aware that this is a government run health insurance program? Maybe they think expansion to include others will make the program unsustainable. But current cost and demographic trends mean that current coverage levels of MEDICARE are already unsustainable. The option of maintaining current levels of coverage with the current costs and an aging population, while not increasing taxes isn't going to work.

I understand libertarians wanting government out of people's lives but the embracing of medicare (and yelling about any suggestion of cost containment) while rejecting the idea of other public programs seems a little nuts.

Third there is the whole idea that we will need to make hard choices and sometimes you don't want someone to get any possible treatment. Even if cost isn't an issue, medical treatment can be hugely unpleasant and a big pain in the ass (or in my case, the chest). This year hasn't been fun but dealing with discomfort and bad side effects is worth it if I figure it might be buying me another 40 years. If it was my 90 year old grandmother I wouldn't want her to put up with some of the stuff I've had to deal with. Of course, she has her own set of medical issues and a ton of pills to take.


Which gets us back to the whole question of what we want to do with respect to health care. It would be nice if the town halls going on throughout the country could involve actual conversation and debate of the pros and cons of different options. (Public option vs. co-ops for example) But that would mean ratcheting down the heat and letting people discuss the hard choices that are needed rather than just torpedoing the whole effort.

Personally, I am doing okay - I don't think my arm is broken but will need another x-ray to confirm this and seem to be handling the radiation and Boniva drug trial pretty well. Though the Boniva seems to make me sneeze 5 or 6 times in a row every morning.

Weird, medical questions are personal and hard and can be incredibly expensive. But in one way or another we as a society will need to figure this all out. Using facts to do this seems like a no-brainer but maybe that's the chemo talking.