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[[File:RichardLevine.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Dr. Richard "Rachel" Levine]]

[[File:RichardLevine.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Dr. Richard "Rachel" Levine]]

A '''Death Panel''', also known as "Death Council", is a group of people that make life-or-death healthcare rationing decisions based on subjective criteria of a person or [[Demography|demographic class]]'s worth to society.  The Obamacare concept was initially bought to public attention by [[Sarah Palin]], who may have started it with [https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=113851103434&_fb_noscript=1 a post to Facebook] and reexamined during the debate over the Affordable Care Act ("[[Obamacare]]") in 2009.   

A '''Death Panel''', also known as "Death Council", is a group of people that make life-or-death healthcare rationing decisions based on subjective criteria of a person or [[Demography|demographic class]]'s worth to society.  <!--The Obamacare concept was initially bought to public attention by [[Sarah Palin]], who may have started it with [https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=113851103434&_fb_noscript=1 a post to Facebook] and reexamined during the debate over the Affordable Care Act ("[[Obamacare]]") in 2009.   

<!--Life or death outcomes from decisions about availability or non-availability of health care have been occurring throughout human history.  In the United States these decisions ultimately arise from the free market system, both before and since the enactment of [[Obamacare]].  Under [[Obamacare]], there has often been more government bureaucracy involved in the process, but it has always been complex.-->

Life or death outcomes from decisions about availability or non-availability of health care have been occurring throughout human history.  In the United States these decisions ultimately arise from the free market system, both before and since the enactment of [[Obamacare]].  Under [[Obamacare]], there has often been more government bureaucracy involved in the process, but it has always been complex.-->

==Obamunism==

==Obamunism==

Some critics, including 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate [[Sarah Palin]], accused [[Obama]] of planning on allowing "Death Panels" to judge the worthiness and "cost effectiveness" of keeping certain people alive, such as senior citizens.  This "end-of-life" care is apparently to be doled out like pork from a salt barrel from the 200 or so "Elderly Care Centers" nationwide that will distribute strictly rationed medication to those in need until such time as the "committee" considers the patient to be too old. 200 centers in the country amounts to about 4 per state on average, though [[California]], [[Massachusetts]] and [[Iowa]] were able to grab more funding from the [[Obama administration]] through a combination of political dealings and [[judicial activism]].<ref>http://blogs.smartmoney.com/tax/2011/02/10/lights-camera-tax-scandal-iowa-trial-begins/</ref> The majority of Elderly Care Centers are located in [[urban]] areas of states; for example, the state of [[Kansas]] has only two Elderly Care Centers for their entire retired population and both are located in [[Topeka]], far from the rural elderly who "need" government help the most. This may be a strategy to reduce the strain on the system by allowing a large portion of the elderly to die off "naturally," while still making a show of treating them in cities, where [[liberal]] voters tend to congregate.

Some critics, including 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate [[Sarah Palin]],<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=113851103434&_fb_noscript=1 Statement on the Current Health Care Debate], Sarah Palin, August 7, 2009,. {[Facebook]].</ref> accused [[Obama]] of planning on allowing "Death Panels" to judge the wor thiness and "cost effectiveness" of keeping certain people alive, such as senior citizens.  This "end-of-life" care is apparently to be doled out like pork from a salt barrel from the 200 or so "Elderly Care Centers" nationwide that will distribute strictly rationed medication to those in need until such time as the "committee" considers the patient to be too old. 200 centers in the country amounts to about 4 per state on average, though [[California]], [[Massachusetts]] and [[Iowa]] were able to grab more funding from the [[Obama administration]] through a combination of political dealings and [[judicial activism]].<ref>http://blogs.smartmoney.com/tax/2011/02/10/lights-camera-tax-scandal-iowa-trial-begins/</ref> The majority of Elderly Care Centers are located in [[urban]] areas of states; for example, the state of [[Kansas]] has only two Elderly Care Centers for their entire retired population and both are located in [[Topeka]], far from the rural elderly who "need" government help the most. This may be a strategy to reduce the strain on the system by allowing a large portion of the elderly to die off "naturally," while still making a show of treating them in cities, where [[liberal]] voters tend to congregate.

There have already been deaths attributed to doctors exercising newly granted authority from these extrajudicial decision making bodies. A young girl, in liberal California of all places, was told that her liver transplant was not "worth it," because she wouldn't live long enough to justify the value of the organ. Though public outcry forced the doctors to change their minds after ten days, but those ten days were enough to kill an innocent child. Another woman, a nurse in [[Texas]], was denied treatment for her [[breast cancer]], purportedly because she was in middle age and was not worth the "investment." <ref>http://dying.about.com/od/ethicsandchoices/a/death_panels.htm</ref>

There have already been deaths attributed to doctors exercising newly granted authority from these extrajudicial decision making bodies. A young girl, in liberal California of all places, was told that her liver transplant was not "worth it," because she wouldn't live long enough to justify the value of the organ. Though public outcry forced the doctors to change their minds after ten days, but those ten days were enough to kill an innocent child. Another woman, a nurse in [[Texas]], was denied treatment for her [[breast cancer]], purportedly because she was in middle age and was not worth the "investment." <ref>http://dying.about.com/od/ethicsandchoices/a/death_panels.htm</ref>