CNN reports that the "controversial" provision for "end-of-life counseling" was placed in the bill by...wait for it...

Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine (and another Republican whose name I regret I missed).

The provision had nothing to do with "death panels."

Not even the kind that private insurers might be accused of operating right now when they deny coverage for things like cancer.

It provided specifically for physician counselling of terminally ill patients (if they wished it) on the preparation of living wills and similar matters related to the end of life. It had nothing whatsoever to do with deciding who would live or die or when or how.

In the face of protests, the provision has apparently been dropped.