Medicare is now going to incentivize death by paying doctors to talk with their patients and families about end-of-life care. Oh, they say this payment policy would only apply to patients and their families who choose to participate on a volunteer basis.  But frankly, patients are putty in the hands of doctors.  Would the death rate rise commensurate with Medicare payments to physicians over end-of-life issues?

The problem for government overseers is 30% of all Medicare expenditures are attributed to 5% of the beneficiaries who die each year with one third of that occurring in the last month of life.   [Health Services Research April 2004]

Of $554 billion spent on Medicare annually, 28 percent, or about $170 billion is spent on patients' last six months of life. [Medicare Newsgroup June 3, 2012]