Bill Gates Suggested Death Panels in 2010 to Save Money on End of Life Care

What was said

"Is spending $1 million on that last 3 months of life for that patient— would it be better not to lay off those 10 teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs? But that's called the death panel, and you're not supposed to have that discussion."

In a 2010 Aspen Institute talk, Bill Gates openly questioned whether spending money on elderly patients' final months was worth it compared to other expenditures like teacher salaries. When this clip resurfaced years later, the Associated Press dispatched fact-checkers to claim it was misinformation, though the video is authentic. Gates explicitly acknowledged the concept as a death panel while suggesting society should have that discussion.