Payments to Doctors for End-of-Life Planning Discussions Once Again Removed from Healthcare Bill

I previously blogged about doctors receiving additional payment from Medicare for discussing end-of-life healthcare preferences with their patients. This provision has been a politically charged topic throughout the enactment of the health care bill, and the Obama administration will once again eliminate the policy from the rules.

Seniors are still free to discuss the topic with their physician, but the fact that Medicare will not pay for the discussion makes it less likely that physicians will bring up the topic on their own.

See White House Reverses Course on End-of-Life Planning, The Trust Advisor Blog, Jan. 5, 2011.