Yeah, you do make a good point, though I'd argue that we have a system of Charity hospitals already in place to assist those who can't realistically pay for their service. Bankrupcy law (which is actually our replacement for the old debtor prison system, which I'd argue was more effective) also has it's place, though as a legal recourse, it is only really available to legal citizens, and therefore we'd still require some kind of recourse to take if an illegal alien breaches the hospital's trust...
The reasons for our high medical rates are obviously pertinent to the discussion, but probably not necessarily appropriate for this thread. I'd theorize that the fact that only 1 out of every 8 patients pay for their service has something to do with it... :)
Question: When your business grants credit, do you check the person's citizenship? Do you do anything to ensure that you're not putting yourself at risk for granting said credit? I'd theorize that hospitals should be able to do the same thing, if businesses routinely do it.
Regards,
~dt~
Dear detsaoT,
"Charity hospitals ..."
By law, any hospital that offers emergency services must accept patients and treat them without regard to ability to pay. Effectively, all hospitals with emergency rooms are at least in part, charity hospitals.
Bankruptcy as a replacement for debtors' prisons is at least in part an acknowledgement that the inability to pay a debt isn't usually the same as theft, and thus, forcing someone to work off that debt is a form of involuntary servitude not generally permitted by the 13th Amendment.
"Question: When your business grants credit, do you check the person's citizenship?"
We only grant credit to businesses, as we only do business-to-business work.
"Do you do anything to ensure that you're not putting yourself at risk for granting said credit?"
We generally rely on the good reputation of our clients. In our business, our clients aren't generally complete strangers. As well, there are other protections built into our processes.
"I'd theorize that hospitals should be able to do the same thing, if businesses routinely do it."
Hospitals DO check your ability to pay. If you need routine treatment of a non-emergent health problem, and you don't have health insurance or a Visa card with a really big limit, they aren't going to admit you.
However, the law doesn't permit hospitals to make these checks to provide emergency treatment (although if you walk into a hospital emergency room and you don't clearly need medical attention this very second, you will be first asked for your insurance/payment methods).
I'm not sure that practically, it'd be a good idea to permit them to do those checks before rendering emergency services.
Of course, the upshot of all this is that folks without insurance or a lot of money wind up getting most of their health care through emergency rooms, which is a very expensive way to do things.
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