Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Political Storm

When a political storm arose over “death panels,” Democrats dropped the proposal to encourage end-of-life planning from the health care legislation. Starting January 1, the Obama administration will achieve the same objective through a Medicare regulation.

Under the regulation, doctors can provide information to patients regarding how to prepare an advance directive, which specifies how aggressively patients want to be treated if they can no longer make their own health care decisions. The preamble to the Medicare regulation states, “Advance care planning improves end-of-life care and patient and family satisfaction and reduces stress, anxiety and depression in surviving relatives.”

The section that was dropped from the legislation allowed Medicare to pay for discussions about advance care planning every five years. The new rule allows annual consultations as part of the wellness visit.

Congressional supporters of the new regulation, while pleased, have kept quiet for fear of provoking another political storm.

See Robert Pear, Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir, N.Y. Times, Dec. 25, 2010.