Rep. Paul Broun: Health Care Reform, Stimulus Are 'Gonna Kill People By Denying Care'

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) recently conjured the specter of death panels, claiming that "Obamacare" and the stimulus bill had effectively set up a "panel" that will eventually serve to kill people by denying them care.

Here's the transcript of what Broun said in a podcast recorded by the conservative Heartland Institute, via ThinkProgress:

BROUN: We see so many unintended consequences, or intended consequences, that are gonna force people off medicare advantage. Obamacare if it stays in as the law of the land is going to hurt the elderly more than anyone else [...] In the stimulus bill Nancy Pelosi set up a panel or something called comparativeness effectiveness research, what they're doing there with that is they're not comparing effectiveness as well as I and all the physicians will do, they're comparing effectiveness of spending a dollar on one person versus another, which means the elderly are gonna be denied the care to keep them living and keep their health in good shape so they can have a useful, fruitful productive life. So see marked rationing of care for the elderly and those who have disabilites and those who have illnesses that will be terminal over a fairly short period of time, that may be who knows, ten years, those people are gonna be denied coverage of care of their health problems under Obamacare. [...] It's gonna kill people by denying care.

It's not quite so blatant a statement in that Broun doesn't directly refer to "death panels," a much maligned pairing of words in some circles due to the fact that it has been linked to the false hysteria created around the health care bill in the run-up to its passage, but it is nonetheless interesting that he manages to tie in the stimulus into the equation.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, often cited as the architect of the bogus term, recently decided to revive the phrase in a conversation with Newsmax:

I was about laughed out of town for bringing to light what I called death panels because there's going to be faceless bureaucrats who will based on cost analysis and some subjective ideas on somebody's level of productivity in life--somebody is going to call the shots as to whether your loved one will be able to receive healthcare or not: to me, death panels. I call it like I saw it, and people didn't like it.

Scroll down to hear Broun's remarks.

LISTEN to Broun's podcast:

Comments

[skwan91607]

01:31 PM on 11/11/2010

Paul, Dead Panels is coming to you if you are still sleeping. The stupid trick of FEAR MONGER is trashy. GOP agenda to make Americans 99% to foot the bills for 1$ will bite the pity consequence sooner NOT later. Ignorant GOP Cowards in congress will be held responsibility to what and how they act to ruin this country. Paul, don't pump yourself up to be another decider, and remember you are serving the public, not other way around.. Damn fool..

[letsgtogether]

09:52 AM on 11/11/2010

Palin says she has made 12 million since resigning from Alaska govt. job. How much of that was from big corp. health insurance lobbies. A few years ago a ceo of a major company needed a heart transplant, his health insurance co. refused because he was a bad risk. His money couldn't buy a dr either. (he went to Europe and got a heart) Mitt Romney said that people with pre-existing conditions don't DESERVE health care insurance. Now Mr. Broun, continue to tell me about Obama's death panels.

[David Burrell]

04:47 PM on 11/08/2010

Obamacare is an attempt to further a political agenda by manipulating and feeding this country's sense of entitlements (the idea that we deserve the products and services that keep us healthy, even if they cant be paid for). In concept and economic theory, the reform was a joke. In construction, the reform was put together like a middle school group project that everyone forgot about until the night before.

And in practice, the reform will be as disasterous as its make-up.

All of these posts about the big bad insurance and pharm companies are written by narrow minded thinkers who owe their wallets to the production of others... Educated at the college of fools, people who support Obama's agenda get their self esteem by picking up small truths, badging them to their chest, and letting the Liberal Media pat them on the back by reaffirming their psuedo identity. All of these screaming voices will amount to a whisper- Shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, gesture without motion... This country is finished with the smokes and mirrors of the hollow men. I just hope amongst the jabber and entertainment, there are some conservative leaders who can actually produce and lead with a sound voice

[factsworkbest]

08:04 AM on 11/07/2010

This is simply outrageous, currently, millions of Americans are only serviced by emergency rooms because they have no health insurance. These people are denied care by the fact they're poor. They die. End of story.
Insurance companies routinely deny coverage based on efficacy vs. cost. It's a cost benefit analysis. That's what we're talking about doing. It won't kill seniors, and FAR fewer people will die under that system than the one we currently have. The only real difference is that fewer poor will die from lack of care, but they don't vote Republican so that's probably what's bothering Mr. Broun.

[factsworkbest]

07:54 AM on 11/07/2010

How does this crap continue to be spewed? Do they have no morals?

[The WillWithall]

09:45 PM on 10/21/2010

"Death Panels?" Before the ability to "cure" certain health issues, people accepted what
came naturally. They were grateful for the care/cures that became available. There was a
cash "Class System." 20C Science has created everything from penicillin to heart
transplants (available at the sacrifice of "someone's" life. Usually, a life ended,
unnaturally).
So many people now DEMAND extreme measures for their chance to postpone the
inevitable, beyond a traditionally normal lifespan, despite moral costs to our burdened
society. If you can afford it, definetly spend a billion dollars if necessary, keeping yourself
alive. Laws will keep you breathing, confined on a machine. If merciful, that patient
is unconcious. Often many, spend years staring at a ceiling, a prisioner of air & care.
Society doesn't have enough resources to spend carte blanc on everybody.
Some haven't "lived," yet. Like a 48 year old passed over because he was uninsured, he
couldn't afford the requirements to get him to rescue day. Regularly employed, with 4 children. His future had no value in the current "Class System," because he was uninsured
and middle class. Dead under 50. Perhaps another 20-30 years to contribute to society,
if insured. His children will receive Social Security benefits for his sacrifice, 6-14 years.
A bizarre "Death Panel," already exists. I've known 4 people over 82, who received the
same operation, all dead of old age within 5 years. Deserving, yes. The weights & measures
of value, pronouncedly unbalanced, comparing those & other similar situations.

[herdlr]

01:58 PM on 10/21/2010

What does he think insurance companies are doing now? They deny people coverage or deny to pay for treatments. Wake up people.

[Cananna]

10:17 AM on 10/21/2010

Well, I was diagnosed with a heart murmur when I was nine years old. In the past 30 years it's warranted 3 EKGs, and a notation during my annual physicals. That's it! I've competed in several triathlons, run marathons, climbed mountains.
Who here thinks that that would not be considered a pre-existing condition?
Thank god, I am Canadian and don't have to deal with insurance company's cr*p.

[Harvee Wallbanger]

05:51 AM on 10/21/2010

Did this guy not get the memo? The death panels thing has been debunked.

[robmclaughjr]

08:32 PM on 10/20/2010

"Guns don't kill people, healthcare does." GOP values

[libster4]

07:54 PM on 10/20/2010

These people are so disgusting. Playing off peoples' worst fears in order to put $$ in their pockets. Karma is a b!tch.

[ltague]

06:43 PM on 10/20/2010

No, Mr. Broun, YOU & your like are going to kill us - with your self-serving, Neanderthal agenda!

[spandautoseattle]

06:36 PM on 10/20/2010

Only a few weeks ago my wife's insurance company (Regence) has prohibited further clinic-visits or consultations, tests etc until they have checked her records for "pre-existing conditions". Death panels? Not impossible since her condition could well be caused by a tumor. According to the insurer's argument there would be no form of cancer prevention in order to save a few hundred Dollars.
It takes an unbelievable lack of compassion and humanity to deny medical care, to ignore the new regulations of the hc-reform and, by way of formerGOP-mouthpieces, deflect the accusation on the victims.
Why is this guy a Representative of the People exactly?

[Imhotep40]

06:22 PM on 10/20/2010

It's a slow day in town & the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt & everybody is living on credit.

A rich tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, lays a $100 bill on the desk & says he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs before selecting one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill & runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 & runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 & heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Farmer's Co-op.

The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 & runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times & has had to offer her "services" on credit.

The hooker rushes to the hotel & pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.

The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill & leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looks to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Stimulus works.

[robmclaughjr]

08:37 PM on 10/20/2010

Home-spun, redneck garbage. By your logic, military bases can have no economic benefit to a region since the money came from the taxpayer's pocket originally. More proof that GOPs are not able to run a modern economy, only a 19th-century one.

[Imhotep40]

02:04 AM on 10/21/2010

This anecdote does not represent a Republican or Democratic concept. It is a capitalist paradigm, rather than the credit/debt paradigm that got us into this mess.

How does this story nullify the economic benefit of a military base to a region? It's cash injected into a community that begins to circulate and generate commerce. . . .

[factsworkbest]

08:13 AM on 11/07/2010

I don't think you got his point. It doesn't mean that stimulus monies are wasted, it's just a story showing how an injection of money helps people.
He wasn't being bitterly partisan. Relax, try decaf.

[Epiphany2b]

06:17 PM on 10/20/2010

There isn't a week that goes by but I have to send a list of the provisions in the health care bill to people who've never read it, claiming all kinds of stuff is in it. Obviously this guy hasn't read it either, and assumes every one he talks to hasn't as well. Not only that, but he certainly hasn't had to go without health care, so has no clue what the average person faces.