Portland Congressman Earl Blumenauer won a big victory this week when Medicare officials said they plan to reimburse doctors for talking with seniors about their wishes for end-of-life care.
The Democratic lawmaker first brought this concept to Congress and was working without controversy to include the provisions in the new federal health care legislation six years ago — until former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin charged that these provisions showed the Obama administration wanted to set up “death panels” that would decide who would and would not get live-saving care.
The ensuing controversy helped keep Blumenauer’s provision out of the Affordable Care Act and kept the Obama administration from acting until now.
Blumenauer talked with The Oregonian/OregonLive from Washington, D.C., Friday about his belated win and why he thinks it is important to get people talking about end-of-life care long before they are confronted with it.
Read about it here.
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