Obamacare: Now Krugman Decries Death Panel Alarmism–and Then Pushes “Death Panels”

PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: If they were going to do reality therapy, they should have said, OK, look, Medicare is going to have to decide what it’s going to pay for. And at least for starters, it’s going to have to decide which medical procedures are not effective at all and should not be paid for at all. In other words, it should have endorsed the panel that was part of the health care reform. If it’s not even — if the commission isn’t even brave enough to take on the death panels people, then it’s doing no good at all. It’s not educating the public. It’s not telling people about the kinds of choices that need to be made.

But here’s the thing: Medicare doesn’t pay now for treatments “that are not effective at all.” Neither does private insurance. Nor should they.


So, he can only be talking about restricting efficacious procedures. And indeed, a few minutes later, Krugman pulls off a double gainer to support death panels:

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST: But what is going to happen? I mean, are you clear on where a compromise is going to be? It’s got to be discussed before the end of the year, no?

KRUGMAN: No. Some years down the pike, we’re going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It’s going to be that we’re actually going to take Medicare under control, and we’re going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it’s not going to happen now.

A combination of death panels and sales taxes will cure our deficit? Since Medicare already doesn’t pay for inefficacious treatments, he can only be referring to rationing, since the few that may squeak through wouldn’t make a dent in Medicare cost curves.

So, once again, a prominent liberal decries warnings about rationing—using the death panel term—and then pushes death panels as a cure to what ails us financially. Notice the pattern?