Palin Warns of "Death Panels" in Deficit Plan
In a Friday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Sarah Palin takes aim at a bipartisan commission's recent recommendations on reducing the deficit, calling its suggestions "a disappointment" and claiming that the plan "implicitly endorses the use of 'death panel'-like rationing."
"The publication of the findings of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was indeed, as the report was titled, 'A Moment of Truth,'" Palin writes, warning that "we're much closer to the budgetary breaking point than previously assumed" and "something clearly needs to be done to avert national bankruptcy."
Palin lambastes the panel's consideration of the health care law in its examination, and warns that, "not only does it leave ObamaCare intact," but "its proposals would lead to a public option being introduced by the backdoor."
Key Points from the Deficit Panel ReportFurthermore, Palin argues, the plan "implicitly endorses the use of 'death panel'-like rationing by way of the new Independent Payments Advisory Board - making bureaucrats, not medical professionals, the ultimate arbiters of what types of treatment will (and especially will not) be reimbursed under Medicare.
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The former Alaska governor also takes issue with the commission's proposal to make cuts in military defense spending, arguing that defense is "the one area where we shouldn't be cutting corners at a time of war."
Palin says that while the commission's offerings are a "disappointment," its findings aren't altogether useless: "For one thing," she argues, "it has exposed the large and unsustainable deficits that the Obama administration has created through its reckless 'spend now, tax later' policies."
Palin goes on to declare her support for Republican congressman Paul Ryan's "Roadmap for America's Future" plan, a series of stark budgetary reforms that GOP leadership is keeping somewhat at arm's length.
"Put simply: Our country is on the path toward bankruptcy," Palin writes. "We must turn around before it's too late, and the Roadmap offers a clear plan for doing so."
