1. The problem is that the FEDERAL government has since 1986 MANDATED that all hospitals take emergency patients regardless of ability to pay.
2. The uninsured leave behind roughly $1,000 APIECE in unpaid medical bills EVERY YEAR.
3. 85% of those unpaid bills end up being absorbed by taxpayers; the rest is absorbed by higher bills paid by everyone else.
An individual mandate is nothing more than an effort to shift that $1,000 in unpaid bills back to where it belongs.
Would we be better off in a world where hospitals and doctors could freely elect to leave the uninsured to die in the streets if they lacked the means to pay?
It doesn’t really matter, since until/unless Romney becomes president, he as governor was stuck with inconvenient truths #1-#3 above. An individual mandate isn’t perfect, but it’s certainly more fair than the status quo.
Just another excuse for Romney not exercising his Veto rights when he should have as a responsible leader.
Fix the real problem them. Don’t compound it.
I do not want any federal requirement for health insurance. President Bush and other conservatives have proposed very sensible health care reforms that emphasize competition, choice, litigation limits, and personal responsibility. Federal mandates for insurance will drive the cost of health care substantially higher. Many if not most states will impose mandates that will drive the cost much higher.
Your concern about unreimbursed health care costs is legitimate. Here is my idea for partially dealing with unreimbursed costs. Treat unreimbursed health care costs like student loan defaults. Hospitals could recover some costs through claims on tax refunds. This solution would need some refinement to provide opportunity for taxpayers to settle and dispute their charges. This approach would catch costs from illegals as many illegals claim the EITC and other tax credits.