The real "death panels" are in Alaska

The real "death panels" and long waits for care are in Sarah Palin's Alaska:

A particularly alarming finding concerns deaths of adults in the programs. In one 2 1/2 year stretch, 227 adults already getting services died while waiting for a nurse to reassess their needs. Another 27 died waiting for their initial assessment, to see if they qualified for help.

The programs at issue provide in-home help for thousands of Alaskans with the basics of life, from medication to meals. The goal is to help people stay in their own homes rather than go into nursing homes or other institutions.

The services are paid for by Medicaid, the state-federal health program for the poor and the disabled, and overseen by the state Division of Senior and Disabilities Services. Individuals qualify based on income and need. Private contractors do most of the work. The programs cost about $250 million this year, with the federal government currently paying 61 percent of the bill.

In other words, while Governor Palin wasn't busy vetoing funds for programs that shelter runaway teens, her state government was funneling federal money to independent contractors who sat on their asses while low-income sick and elderly Alaskans got poorer, sicker, and older -- and died on her watch.

Reminds me of the Danieal Kelly child neglect case here in Philly: federal, state, and city funding for addressing child abuse and neglect is distributed to 3d-party contractors through DHS. DHS doesn't take care of children; they only administer the money and draw up rules and regulations that they don't enforce against the contractors until enough kids die that the mayor takes notice. Why various cities and states continue with this model is beyond my comprehension.