The Woman Behind “Health Care Reform Will Kill Old People” Lie

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported that health care executive Betsy McCaughey created the “Obama health care will kill old people” lie.

The same lie that has been repeated by opponents of health care reform, including Rep. Paul Broun. According to Maddow, McCaughey has deep financial ties in the health care industry.

“She’s the director of a medical device company called Cantel Medical Corporation (listed as “Elizabeth McCaughey”). She’s also a former director of a biotech company called Genta. She’s also a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank funded by some of the biggest pharmaceutical giants in the country.”

Maddow adds, “Betsy McCaughey is the one who started the whole conspiracy theory that the government’s promoting people getting living wills, which the government has done for twenty years, is somehow now a secret plot to kill old people.”

On the Fred Thompson radio show, McCaughey falsely claimed that, “Congress would make it mandatory, absolutely require, that every five years people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner.”

NewsVideoClip.TV has obtained a copy of the health care bill, which can be downloaded here.

Pages 425-426 refer to an ‘‘Advance Care Planning Consultation” (which) means a consultation between the individual and a practitioner described in paragraph regarding advance care planning, if the individual involved has not had such a consultation within the last 5 years.

Such consultation shall include the following: ‘‘An explanation by the practitioner of advance care planning, including key questions and considerations, important steps, and suggested people to talk to. An explanation by the practitioner of advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses.

An explanation by the practitioner of the role and responsibilities of a health care proxy. The provision by the practitioner of a list of national and State-specific resources to assist consumers and their families with advance care planning, including the national toll-free hotline, the advance care planning clearinghouses, and State legal service organizations (including those funded through the Older Americans Act of 1965).

An explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice, and benefits for such services and supports that are available under this title.

NewsVideoClip.Tv found no evidence that the bill, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, ever requires any elderly person (or person of any age) to kill themselves or discuss with their doctor how they will kill themselves. The bill does include the above regarding living wills, advance directives, power of attorney and end-of-life services such as hospice, which is not euthanasia.

As noted by Maddow, McCaughey was also part of a similar opposition to Bill Clinton’s healthcare reform in the 1990s. She authored an article riddled with errors and non-truths in the New Republic, against healthcare reform, which was later disavowed by the magazine.