The New York Times starts laying...

[Yonivore]

What agencies are they and what authority are they given to do this and how?

The article mentions three...

The federal government is now starting to build the ins utions that will try to reduce the soaring growth of health care costs. There will be a group to compare the effectiveness of different treatments, a so-called Medicare innovation center and a Medicare oversight board that can set payment rates.

[LnGrrrR]

Any government bureaucracy that makes decisions on standards of care, what treatments will be covered, or which patients are to receive treatments is a death panel.

Using that same argument, couldn't they also be called "life panels"?