As long as we have a capital driven health care plan there is no need for death panels.
Somebody admits it. ;-)
Okay, it comes with a misguided assumption that "death panels" already exist, but we can deal with that.
The market itself acts as an overall death panel. Whoever can't afford care dies, often after a long period of suffering. What could be more simple, efficient and Republican than that?
No, it's not "whoever can't afford care dies." It's whoever individuals and charities elect not to treat for lack of payment. And that's not called "rationing" except by equivocators. It's called "price rationing" because the modifier makes a big difference conceptually. There's no central planner making the decisions that ultimately determine who lives and who dies. Individuals decide. And that's called freedom.
And I had hoped that pointing out how the regulated insurance system largely enshrines third-party payment would forestall uninformed talk about how we're leaving behind "laissez-faire." Oh, well.