Whats the diff?

///UPDATE: Apparently, Death Panels are back in the news thanks to our newly minted Republican House. I’m interested to see how consistently they attack this principle across ALL segments. And that was sarcasm, for those of you who couldn’t hear it. For the record, after working in Pharma for years, I don’t find a lot of fault in this kind of system. ////

So let’s recap…

Who remembers the first Facebook Post of our National Laughingstock, Sarah Palin…the one that put Death Panels in urban dictionary? Today, the topic resurfaced when our heroine stated:

“I was about laughed out of town for bringing to light what I called death panels because there’s going to be faceless bureaucrats who will based on cost analysis and some subjective ideas on somebody’s level of  productivity in life—somebody is going to call the shots as to whether your loved one will be able to receive healthcare or not: to me, death panels. I call it like I saw it, and people didn’t like it.”

So here I am today…reading through my new benefits program at work…when to my horror…I learn that the big insurance companies DO THE EXACT SAME THING.

Blue Cross offers a “Presciption Drug Formulary” as part of its plan…as does Anthem. Language is eerily similar to what Sarah Palin referred to as “death panels” in the healthcare bill.

“The Blue Cross of California Generic Prescription Drug Formulary is a list of generic drugs covered under your benefit. These are commonly prescribed Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs chosen by Blue Cross of California.”

“This program is designed to encourage appropriate and cost-effective use of medications.”

“If your physician prescribed a medication that does not appear
on this list, the medication may not be covered under your
pharmacy benefit.”

Does that mean that the “insurance companies” = “faceless bureaucrats” that she referred to? It’s all making sense now. Maybe we can agree that it might not be a good idea that insurers can deny medication b/c their board doesn’t think it is cost effective. Or maybe she’s a hypocrite who is paid by Fox who is paid by advertisers who are paid by companies that like to make big profits and thus, pull support if the message is what they consider to be anti-business.

First person to call out the real death panels regardless of their campaign donations gets my undue respect.

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