"Life After": How Assisted Dying Gives Insurers "Profit Motive" for Denying Medical Treatment

[Uncle Joe]

As the federal government begins to implement some $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts called for in President Trump's budget bill passed by the Republican-led Congress, a new investigative documentary, "Life After," examines the moral dilemmas and profit motives surrounding assisted dying that could increasingly confront members of the disabled community. Reid Davenport, who directed the film, notes the "film is not about suicide. It is about the phenomenon that leaves disabled people desperate to find their place in a world that perpetually rejects them." People with disabilities "already experience huge health disparities," adds Colleen Cassingham, who produced the film. "When you introduce a policy like assisted suicide, it takes a group of people who are already incredibly marginalized by our system and gives the institutions and the people with power a profit motive for denying those people care." "Life After" is now screening in person "at select theaters and virtually online":https://www.lifeafterfilm.com/screenings.

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. They already have huge profit motives to deny medical treatment.

But in Canada, with universal health care, there is MAID: Medical Assistance In Dying, with safeguards. It has not been a problem.

[rampartd]

2. i do think i have a right to pull my own plug

i don't know the details of canada's system, but these"advantage plans" seem capable of making an american so miserable and stressed that suicide seems preferable to bankruptcy and homelessness.