It seems like only last week that I was writing that cuts to health care services that millions of Americans depend on would result in people with disabilities of all ages asking for help in killing themselves as they faced increased impoverishment accompanied with a withdrawal of supports that they rely on.
Oh – it was last week that I wrote something along those lines.
It looks like others are thinking along those lines as well.
Yesterday’s (May 8, 2011) edition of the Concord Monitor published a letter by a concerned citizen named Michael Evans titled “Gutting Medicare.”:
Across the country, people are analyzing the Paul Ryan budget plan, including changes that the House passed – with the help of the Reps. Charlie Bass and Frank Guinta – to the 45-year-old program called Medicare, the health plan for those 65 years and older guaranteeing reasonable health care through the end of life.
The voucher plan will change things dramatically and will cost seniors billions more in health care expenses so that millionaires and billionaires can be given more tax-cuts, even though the evidence shows that giving tax cuts to these people does not generate new jobs or new investment in the USA, no matter how often the Republicans claim they do. China and India are doing well though.
The Ryan/Bass/Guinta vote to cut the American senior health care system will force many to make difficult choices. One thing that has not been mentioned in all this talk, and which will be desirable if this goes through, is a law that gives seniors the right to euthanasia. Many will be forced to make this choice as their money runs out and their homes are lost. The Ryan/Bass/Guinta Medicare voucher insurance system fails in its coverage of medical care in the last years of a citizen’s life. Dignity in death is as important as tax-cuts for billionaires.
Sarah Palin opened our eyes to death panels. The Ryan/Bass/Guinta plan will create the need for death panels. It should therefore include a euthanasia option because, as we are told by Republicans, choice is an American value.
To be honest, I think that this letter-writer isn’t a serious euthanasia proponent, but merely trying to make a strong point about the consequences of the Ryan Medicare Plan – and which also applies to proposals regarding Medicaid that are being discussed right now as well.
But even if Mr. Evans isn’t serious, there will be serious proposals that will come; the pro-euthanasia movement is adept at seizing opportunities. And it will be all too easy for them to sound like a genuinely compassionate voice. I can hear the pitch now:
“The Conservatives have torn your safety net to shreds. You’ve used up your life savings and sold your home. There’s nothing left for medical care or decent housing. The least you deserve is to die on your own terms.”
And the truth is, I’ll blame Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and their “Ayn Rand wannabe” Congressional supporters at least as much as I’ll blame the pro-euthanasia groups for this sales pitch.