Sarah Palin's notorious allegation that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would lead to "death panels" probably got more attention than it deserved as the landmark health law was being debated in 2010.
And yet, only three days after the implementation of the policy that Palin was describing, there's not a peep from politicians.
On Friday, the Obama administration finalized a rule that will allow Medicare to reimburse doctors for end-of-life consultations with patients.
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"We received overwhelmingly positive comments about the importance of these conversations between physicians and patients," Patrick Conway, chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told the New York Times. "We know that many patients and families want to have these discussions."
In fact, the change has received support from members of both parties in Congress. The Hill reports that Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., has been one of the chief backers of the policy.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., told the Hill that many former opponents of the policy had come around after realizing that the service was something that many seniors wanted and that it could save Medicare billions of dollars.
"Public acceptance grew as awareness increased," he added. "The people that were opposed to it sounded just more and more out of touch."
According to the Times, Medicare will pay up to $86 for a half-hour "advanced care planning" consultation in an office setting and $80 in a hospital. It will pay up to another $75 for an additional half hour in either setting.
The idea isn't for doctors to start conversations with patients who are already terminally ill, but to have discussions that will prove useful when that day comes. The goal is to allow the patient to articulate his or her wishes for how doctors should proceed if they can no longer speak.
Some private insurers already cover such consultations. From a business perspective, allowing some patients to clarify that they would like to forgo certain procedures late in life offers a major opportunity to save money.
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