Yep.

They’re called “insurance companies.”

No, they’re not a creation of Obamacare, as John McCain’s gift to America, Sarah Palin, tried to claim.

But death panels do exist, as the Republic showed readers this past weekend.

In the article “Insurance fight left cancer victim on brink”  (you can read it here), we find out that insurance companies regularly deny their customers life-saving but expensive cancer medications.  

In fact, “Staff members at Ironwood Cancer & Research Center, where Magner sought treatment, said they see patients denied chemotherapy drugs almost weekly.”

One hospital sees this weekly.  Multiply that times all the hospitals treating cancer patients.

The woman upon whom the story focuses has a particularly virulent form of breast cancer.  So she went to Ironwood was hooked up to an IV ready to receive the chemo, when a staff worker came into the room and told her that her insurance company, Blue Cross of Massachusetts, had denied coverage for the medicine.

Treatment over.

And this happened to her more than once.

Now, the good news is that the woman — Kristen Magner — eventually contacted Twelve News’ Call Twelve for Action.  Within hours, her treatment was approved.

But what about all the other cancer patients who haven’t contacted someone to advocate for them?

I guess the death panels, er, insurance companies, continue to deny coverage.

And Palin and Co. have the cojones to create their “death panel” fiction even as insurance companies actually perform that function.

Pathetic.