End of life care becomes politicized

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A move to include counseling on end-of-life care in U.S. health insurance reform has become a political football.

Under the plan now being considered by Congress, Medicare would reimburse doctors for counseling sessions with the elderly and terminally ill, The Washington Post reports. The voluntary counseling would cover treatment options, living wills and the designation of medical proxies.

President Obama, asked at a forum for the elderly about rumors the goal is to ration care, said he and his wife both have living wills. But conservative opponents of his health-care plan describe the counseling as a move toward euthanasia.

Betsy McCaughey, a former New York lieutenant governor who fought President Bill Clinton's health care plan in the 1990s, said in a radio interview doctors would "tell them how to end their life sooner." House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and some other Republican leaders have picked up the message.

Rep. Thad McCotter, R-Mich., head of the Republican Policy Committee, said the plan "may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia."