This is the symptom of a problem already created by previous government intervention. There are any number of solutions to help address these problems. The solutions are reforming medicaid and medicare so they are not driving the costs up, and changing the culture of high cost all inclusive programs and moving to lower cost catastrophic products at a lower cost, bundled with better use of health saving accounts and the like. If there is one single thing that makes sense as a tax deduction, it is health care and medical expenses, as it will lower the personal costs to all people, and lower much of the need for government funded health expenses (the biggest ticket item in our government budget, and growing exponentially).
Absolutely true. But in our system when you get sick or hurt you go to the hospital and they need to treat you until released - by law. If this person has no coverage or refuses to pay, then the cost is born by other payers into the system. Add in some cost shift because government programs refuse to pay the true cost of service and you have a system that is in crisis.
Let hospitals refuse patients? Sure, until the 5PM news shows someone dieing because they did not have the right card or insurance policy.
If you want to demand the health care delivery system treat anyone, then a mandate is the only option. Just like so much in the US right now, we want our stuff, but don't want to pay for it.
schu