In the midst of all this “death panel” nonsense (thank you, Sarah Palin), I saw this YouTube video of Johnny Isakson.

About 25 seconds into the video, Isakson says he thinks you should be required to execute a durable power of attorney when you become eligible for Medicare.  There’s a Republican (an alleged conservative one) pushing for more government involvement in people’s lives.

Johnny Isakson thinks you should be required to execute a durable power of attorney when you are 65. This would save, as he puts it, “kazillions” of dollars in costs.

Of course he’s talking specifically about Medicare costs, and he’s probably right that government-ordered execution of a POA would save more than a few bucks on Medicare.

But the argument comes back that if the government is paying for the health care of an individual, the government should be able to require the individual to do things that would potentially save some money on the cost of that care.  (That’s the [allegedly] fiscally responsible, limited government Republican making that argument.)

So what’s the solution here? How do we get serious about cutting Medicare costs? Sure, as Isakson would have it, we could add regulations and requirements. We could make people do things they might not want to. Or we could get the government out of the health care business altogether and let the people be responsible for themselves.

Then you could choose to try to save money by having a POA setup, or you could opt to not have a POA. And no matter what option you chose, it wouldn’t cost the government a dime.