A Death Panel by any Other Name...

There are any number of ways in which ObamaCare could seek to shorten Grandma's (and Grandpa's too, we're not sexist here!) life. The first, an unelected and unaccountable group of people with the power to end Granny's care, was (apparently) shot down in committee. But that's just an explicit method.

A far more insidious method - insidious because of its more subtle nature - would be to significantly reduce the funds available for her care. And that seems to be the "plan du jeur:"

"Three-quarters of ObamaCare is to be financed by slashing $500 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years. That comes to an 8 percent cut."

That bears repeating: an 8% cut over and above other already planned reductions. In fact, even without ObamaCare's draconian cuts, there's a 21% reduction in Medicare reimbursement rates on the books for next year. That's a lot of office time that's not going to be reimbursed, and therefore never happen. How many elderly will be turned away, or made to wait for months (or longer) to be seen?

"Last year the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission said that 29 percent of beneficiaries had trouble finding a doctor - up from 24 percent the year before."

And that's before that 21% cut. Add the additional $50 billion (at least) that would be slashed by ObamaCare, and that's a lot of seasoned citizens left without health care options.

Exit question for our political class: what percentage of those over age 65 vote?