For the second straight day, I'm turning to Arizona for commentary fodder. A spokesperson from the University Medical Center in Tuscon, Arizona just confirmed the recent death of a patient who had been on their liver transplant list, but had to be removed because the Arizona state legislature, a solidly Republican body, voted last fall to exclude coverage for transplants from state Medicaid insurance coverage for poor people. This was the second such death since the Arizona legislature effectively "pulled the plug" on poor people getting life-saving transplants at the public's expense.
People can debate the propriety of the Arizona legislature's decision regarding the use of taxpayer funds to provide such services all they want, but the next time ultra-conservative columnist Cal Thomas and Tea Party presidential wannabe Sarah Palin, and their ilk, attack President Obama's health care reform plan with the bogus charge that it creates "death panels", perhaps they should take a moment and look in the mirror at the death count of the Arizona Republican State Legislative Death Panel. That number currently stands at two…and counting!
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