Oregon Health

James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal always gives us food for thinking. Today's article is another one of those not to disappoint.
"One question about ObamaCare that has caused enormous anxiety has to do with the category of “end-of-life care.” Would people feel pressured, or be forced, to pull the plug on those who, on economic grounds, are deemed not worth saving? Would ObamaCare allow or encourage assisted suicide, even euthanasia?

These are serious questions. Last July we noted that Oregon’s socialized health plan had denied a $4,000-a-month cancer drug to 64-year-old Barbara Wagner. But the bureaucracy cheerfully informed her “that it would cover palliative, or comfort, care, including, if she chose, doctor-assisted suicide.” (Portland’s KATU-TV reported that the drug’s maker, Genentech, responded to a plea from Wagner’s doctors and let her have the medicine free. Such charity would be unsupportable, obviously, if the entire country were subjected to a plan that refused to pay for the drugs.)"