Death panels & Bill Gates - true or false?

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The facts
3. Discussion
4. References

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"Fact checkers" didn't exist until the truth started getting out (Meme 2022)

1. Introduction

In recent years, and increasingly in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019-2022, a number of new terms, or newly defined terms, have entered the English language vocabulary, viz., factcheck, misinformation and disinformation. As one meme suggested, this trend came about as a result of the truth getting out via social media in regards to the negative effects of both the COVID-19 lockdowns and the toxicity of the newly created and largely untested vaccines. The extreme toxicity of the mRNA vaccines has resulted in a large number of deaths post-COVID and been subsequently banned by governments around the world. Prior to this, the media and governments had almost total control over what the public was told. A good example of this current distorted truth scenario is the subject of Bill Gates and so-called "Death Panels" which initially came to the fore back in 2010. According to a recent article:

During an appearance at the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, in [15-16 November] 2010, the unelected world health czar said death panels would be "necessary in the near future in order to end the lives of sick and unwell people due to very, very high medical costs." (Taylor 2024)

Bill Gates did not attend the G20 in 2010. Therefore the precision of that statement can be questioned, and it will be, as part of the analysis presented within this article. However, the truth of the statement in regards to what Bill Gates believed / believes and and has promoted cannot be questioned. In the months following the resurfacing of these reports from 2010 during 2022 - in part due to the open government initiatives of the Present Trump administration - a plethora of factcheck webpages and social media items appeared from government and media outlets debunking this accusatory statement and any association between Gates and the subject of so-called death panels. Despite this - or perhaps because of it - the public remained suspicious.

The following article considers the truth or otherwise of the statements from both sides of the fence. Is it disinformation / misinformation as currently defined by governments around the world and promoted in the West by supposedly Left or Liberal regimes under the banner of Woke, or it is truth backed up by facts but strangely only promoted as such by the Right and conservative forces who have taken up the banner of openness and accountability previously the purvue of the Left? Confusing? Yes.

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2. The facts

Bill Gates did not attend the G20 Summit in Bali during 2010. The aforementioned purported comment by him can be seen to have originated in the following interview with him by Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute. It took place as part of the Aspen Ideas Festival 2010, on 8 July 2010. It was uploaded to YouTube in September of that year, from whence it subsequently drew adverse comments, and continues to do so in the light of information revealed around Gates' ongoing promotion of vaccines, involvement in development of the COVID-19 vaccine regime, and in associated treatment methodologies:

Bill Gates and Death Panels, Ernie Smith, 8 July 2010, YouTube, duration: 1.07 minutes.

The following is a transcript of the Aspen interview excerpt:

Bill Gates: .... that's a tradeoff society is making because of very very high medical costs and a lack of willingness to say you know is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient would it be better not to lay off the those 10 teachers and to make that trade up in medical cost but that's called the death panel uh and you're not supposed to have that discussion so you of course you ....

Walter Isaacson: That's an interesting thing you just said, which is just the last three months in life for one person or something, because we haven't had a discussion of how to allocate that money, it means we lay off three teachers? To do so, I mean, in other words, we haven't had this type of allocation?

Bill Gates: That's right. We are making that tradeoff because of huge medical costs that are not examined to see which ones actually have no benefit whatsoever and because of pension generosity we will be laying off over 100,000 teachers which you know I'm very much against that.

A fuller version of the interview is presented here, providing context to the largely financial discussion promoted by Gates:

Bill Gates: End-of-life care vs. saving teachers' jobs, 8 July 2010, YouTube, duration: 3.08 minutes.

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3. Discussion

It is quite clear from Bill Gates' 8 July 2010 Aspen statements that he believes a cost-benefit-analysis should be undertaken in regards to whether large amounts of public money be spent on extending the lives of sick people. That money, he believes, would be better spent diverted towards education. Plain and simple, that is what he was clearly saying during 2010. And the manner in which that could play out? Answer: death panels.

So is the post-COVID-19 and 2024-2025 torrent of official factchecks and disclaimers around his 2010 statements correct? What of the following 2022 Associated Press statement, which is typical of such statements:

CLAIM: A video shows billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates telling world leaders at the 2022 G-20 summit that “death panels” will soon be required.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The clip shows Gates in 2010 discussing health care and education systems at a forum hosted by the nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank the Aspen Institute, not at the G-20 meeting in Indonesia this week. While Gates did mention so-called “death panels” — a misleading term used by opponents of the Affordable Care Act — he was explaining why discussion about the cost of end-of-life care had become taboo. He never endorsed the idea.(Tulp 2022)

Is Tulp's reading of the events a true interpretation of the facts? Is the public wrong in its concerns over some of the statements by Gates in 2010 and subsequently? The short answer is: No, the public is not wrong.

The assessment by Tulp that Gates "never endorsed the [death panels] idea" is wrong. In fact, he clearly endorsed the idea when he stated that he was "...very much against that" when referred to the ongoing support for use of public funds to prolong the lives of sick people, as against transferring those funds towards support for education and instead developing a system to identify eligible candidates and either allow them to die "naturally" or assist them in that process through euthanasia. This process would have to involve individual medical professionals such as doctors and specialists, overseen by the so-called death panels. He could not have been any clearer or emphatic in that belief. Within Gates' Aspen statement he also expressed concern over the failure to discuss this issue publically, revealing his desire that this be done. No, he did not specifically say "I support Death Panels" but that support can be implied, as revealed above. Therefore we have an example here of where the factcheckers have got it wrong. The Gates message could be more clearly restated as:

"Look, we are wasting public monies keeping very, very sick people alive. The money could be better spent in the area of education - not only in holding on to our teachers, but also in expanding their numbers and supporting an appropriate level of reimbursement through superannuation schemes and higher wages. To manage such a scheme a panel of experts could oversee the actions of medical professionals such as doctors and nurses. Those panels have been referred to as "death panels", though that is an unfortunate, if accurate, description of their function.

That's a fact. The public is aware of this attitude on the part of Gates, and no amount of factchecker media releases or government pronouncements can change this. Only a negation by Gates himself would have any impact, and as far as this writer is aware, no such announcement has been made since 2010.

It is quite clear from many other actions that Bill Gates views population as a problem on planet Earth, as do many others, most especially environmentalists and conservationists. There is no doubt that there are numerous problems associated with the increasing human population, especially of an environmental, ecological and social nature. What is the answer to this? Should pragmatism (i.e., those seeking population controls) override compassion (i.e., those not seeking drastic population control measures)? It is the present writer's belief that both are of equal import, and any solutions should encompass both pragmatism and compassion. Euthanasia is already in place around the world and obviously one of the actions part of a so-called Death Panels agenda. Perhaps we should just adhere to euthanasia protocols, rather than implement death panels. It would seem that Canada, in recent years, has gone down this latter path with its Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program (Cocco 2022, Kirky 2024).

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References

Bill Gates and Death Panels, Ernie Smith, 8 July 2010, YouTube, duration: 1.07 minutes.

Cocco, Leyland, Are Canadians being driven to assisted suicide by poverty or healthcare crisis?, The Guardian, 11 May 2022.

Kirky, Sharon, Ontario man gets MAID for controversial 'post COVID-19 vaccination syndrome', National Post, 24 October 2024.

Mortkowitz, Ladka, Bill Gates did not call for 'death panels' for the sick at G20 summit, AFP Factcheck, 30 January 2023.

Sircus, Mark, Bill Gates: The Ugliest Evil on Earth, Uncensored, 77, 30 August 2025.

Tulp, Sophia, Posts misrepresent 2010 clip of Bill Gates discussing health care, AP, 19 November 2022.

Taylor, Michael, Gates called for "Death Panels" a long time ago, Uncensored, 77, 30 August 2025.

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Last updated: 31 August 2025

Michael Organ, Australia