NYT:Reversal of End of Life Counseling under Medicare....look who blinked

Well shine the light and the rats scurry. Article in NYT about the withdrawing of the regulation for end of life counseling in annual medicaid check up due to "procedural reasons" and tries to imply that the omission of it in the published advance for comment was  an oversight! Donald Berwick said in an email, let's keep from cheering too loudly so this does not get attention. Sorry Donald!

"While administration officials cited procedural reasons for changing the rule, it was clear that political concerns were also a factor. The renewed debate over advance care planning threatened to become a distraction to administration officials who were gearing up to defend the health law against attack by the new Republican majority in the House."

"Although the health care bill signed into law in March did not mention end-of-life planning, the topic was included in a huge Medicare regulation setting payment rates for thousands of physician services. The final regulation was published in the Federal Register in late November. The proposed rule, published for public comment in July, did not include advance care planning."

" The provision for advance care planning was not included in the final health care overhaul signed into law by President Obama. Health policy experts assumed that the proposal had been set aside — until a similar idea showed up in the final Medicare regulation in November."