It's going to happen one way or the other. I don't see any way out of it at this point. Too many hospitals and health departments are going broke treating the uninsured and illegals. As long as the feds require hospitals to treat everyone we will have this problem.
But it still really angers me! I belong to Kaiser, which I get through my job. I am very happy with Kaiser. However, the Kaiser hospital I go to is the ONLY hospital in town. Every person on Medicaid (Medi-Cal here in CA) can come into the hospital and be seen. I have been to the emergency room a few times and had to wait while Medi-Cal patients, WHO ARE NOT KAISER MEMBERS AND DO NOT PAY, are seen ahead of me. This is a PRIVATE hospital, not a public one, yet we still have to wait while they treat the illegals and the susidized, non-Kaiser "poor".
It's just going to get worse.
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But it still really angers me! I belong to Kaiser, which I get through my job. I am very happy with Kaiser.
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I apologize for singling you out, sir. But this statement is why FR and conservatism has not evolved a good policy response on this matter.
The truth is a lot of FR types are in traditional jobs who get group health plans through those jobs. Well, this is a HUGE problem for conservatism because what it is doing is concealing from most on FR that This Is Not The Norm.
The norm in the US is jobs as self employed people or as employees of very small business. Or employed at fewer than 40 hrs per week, and paid hourly. Add to these categories another group of Americans called "early retirees", who get an early out or simply achieve enough success to stop working before age 65.
All of those several categories can be refused individual policies for pre-existing conditions. They Can't Get Insurance. Group plans are not allowed to exclude pre-existing conditions.
I would suggest that THIS is the single key focal point that the GOP could rally around as a viable conservative position. Enforce a declaration that all people in non group plans are in total a group and constitute a group plan in and of themselves. This would prevent exclusion for pre-existing conditions and it would prevent enormous premium increases for individual plans.
It also would, in conservative fashion, keep government out of the healthcare business. Insurance companies WILL see an impact on profits from this because they are currently gouging individual plans and excluding high risks -- but a tax break for the industry could balance this and remain quintessentially conservative.
Anyway, that's my contribution to the 2008 GOP platform. :)
the reason that hospitals are going broke is because they are forced to take less money in payment than what the actual cost is....
how would you like to have a business where the govt told you that you had to sell things at half price to every other person who comes in the door?