Press Release: "Proposed Federal Hospice Act Must Be Defeated to 'Stop the Waste, Bleeding and Heartache'"

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/465588180/proposed-federal-hospice-act-must-be-defeated-to-stop-the-waste-bleeding-and-heartache

Washington DC

Dore: "Existing federal hospice programs, such as the Medicare hospice benefit, are plagued by fraud, poor quality care, rampant abuse, arguably murder, and a gross waste of taxpayer dollars. Enacting another federal hospice program, when existing programs are far from being under control, makes no sense and will only cause more of the same."

Memo to the U.S. Senate HELP Committee: Vote No on the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

For a summary sheet including a similar House bill (H.R. 1676), click here. For a pdf version of this memo, click here.

I.  INTRODUCTION

I am an elder law attorney and president of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.[1] Formed in 2010, Choice is an Illusion fights against assisted suicide and euthanasia throughout the U.S. and in other countries.[2] We also fight against hospice and palliative care abuse.

S. 693, the Palliative Care and Hospice Education & Training Act," amends the existing Public Health Service Act to require financial support for “Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers.”[3] This is a new program, which will include direct patient care.[4]

Existing federal palliative care programs, such as the Medicare hospice benefit, are plagued by fraud, poor quality care and a gross waste of taxpayer money.[5] S. 693 must be rejected unless problems with existing programs are resolved; Congress must not throw good money after bad. The bill must also be rejected for the reasons set forth below.