A lot’s been going around lately about health care reform and so-called “death panels,” which are Palin-speak for what is known in France as a Medical Council. On TalkingPointsMemo.com a Reader Blog by “Jane B.” discusses this phenomenon and her real experience with “death panels” in what she mockingly refers to as one of the “hell hole socialist countries,” France.

In France, Medical Councils serve to determine whether someone is eligible to get 100% government coverage for illnesses. In Jane B’s case, it was breast cancer, an illness that is in no way her fault. People like Sarah Palin are pushing the idea that these “death panels” can deny such coverage, thus sentencing people to death. The reality is that Jane B had to answer one question: “does the patient have an illness (or trauma)  that requires long term treatment?” If the patient answers in the affirmative, they are covered. That’s 100% coverage while they’re sick.

So, here is a real world example, not a politically biased assumption.

Source:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/jane_blevins/2009/08/getting-cancer-in-a-hell-hole.php?ref=fpd