1. A panel of bureaucrats whose task it is to examine everyone needing medical attention and decide who gets denied healthcare. Used as propaganda to scare old, confused, ignorant people into opposing healthcare reform, despite not actually existing in the bill.

2. Something that every health insurance company employs in order to cut costs.
Conservative #1 "I heard Obama wants to set up death panels to kill every baby and old person."

Conservative #2 "Death panels?! I hate that socialist. By the way, how's the cancer treatment coming?"

Conservative #1 "Not good, my insurance company dropped me because they don't want to cover it"

Conservative #2 "Let's go scream down a senate democrat at the town hall!"

Conservative #1 "YEAH!"
by Redmage August 13, 2009
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1. A new term that can be used interchangeably with the term "US Congress"

2. President Obama's plan for "an Independant Medicare Advisory Council" that will work outside of "normal political channels" giving decisions about the "huge driver of cost... the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives."

3. The reason the USA's healthcare system is on the verge of becoming the most corrupt enterprise in history, far surpassing even Italy.
Mary: "Goodness Jane, how did you get your opperation so quickly? It tooks 8 months for MY tumor to be removed!'

Jane: "Hahaha Mary you're so silly! You know I work for the post office. My menial government job makes me a much more essential person than you according to the death panel. You don't even work! You just stay home taking care of your 6 children."

Mary: "Sheesh, I wish I never voted for OBAMA!!!"
by StripperFucker October 3, 2009
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Going door-to-door in one's neighborhood (usually with friends) looking for elderly people, who may or may not be sick, to determine if they should be put to death.
"I can't play one more game of Apples to Apples™. Let's stretch our legs a bit and go death-paneling."
by Guido66 March 23, 2010
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The public decision making body that that is unofficial and largely invisible that decides strategies that spread or stop the spread of C-19 and specially who gets treated for C-19 and who does not. The C-19 Death Panels can be comprised of different types of people in all levels of gov and private sector but not limited to public heath or medical experts. In some cases it is politicians and some cases business owners or religious leaders.

C-19 Death Panel decisions range from Politicians and Public Health Agencies deciding on strategies to prevent the spread of C-19, Public Health Agencies and Medical Administrators planning (or lack there of) to assure medical people do (or don't) have proper PPE, medical equipment, hospital capacity to heal patients or to protect even to protect patients with our without it from C-19. And there are some on the panels that make individual decisions on which medical people get adequate PPE (to protect them and/or patients), who gets tests and tested, and who gets treated for C-19, especially when there is limited capacity for prevention or care.
Criteria used by the C-19 Death Panels can be well thought out and based on data and analysis by public heath and medical professions or made on the fly by politicians or their advisers that are trained in financial and economics and whatever else they think is relevant.
The greatest innovation of the C-19 Death Panel is that it not only makes decisions on who gets treatment like other medical death panels but it is largely responsible for who and how a person gets exposed to the disease that can kill the future patient. In a lot of cases there is more than one C-19 Death Panel acting, often with completely different logic and counter strategies. Some prioritizing the economy over your grand parents and some your grand parents over the economy.

It should be noted that the C-19 Death Panels can develop strategies that create enough people with the C-19 illness to overwhelm not only everyone's medical care and medical insurance rates.
by mlhiss April 6, 2020
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