If somewhere in Alaska there's a facility that treats "a life threatening situation" pro-bono than he's home free. If one can't afford insurance then it BEHOOVES THEM to live in such a locale. If not then SOL......
What can a hospital do if you refuse to pay anything? Is someone who has cancer going to get treated for free?
Owing huge amounts of debt and not being able to pay for it.....hmmmmmm where does that sounds familiar?
"If somewhere in Alaska there's a facility that treats "a life threatening situation" pro-bono than he's home free." It's not pro-bono, he owes them the money and does make payments to them. I believe in any state the state hospitals will give you emergency care and you pay them slowly over time without having to ruin yourself financially.
"Mav88 02-18-09 05:06 PM It was metioned earlier that preemies are simply left to die in Europe and Canada." wtf are you talking about? Canada and Europe don't let pre-mature babies just die. where did you hear that?
Probably Michael Savage show or some other blowhard outlet. It is a classical brainwashing scheme to tell people how bad things are elsewhere. When you are firmly convinced that no matter how bad things are here they are better than everywhere else you are pacified. Most of the people who listen to those shows honestly believe that US enjoys the highest standard of living in the World (which is not true at all) Listening to the conservatives everyone in (Western)Europe is half dead, lives to 50, walks crooked, a flu is a death sentence, has bad teeth, poor vision and other scare stories. Any bad US healthcare statistic is either conveniently explained by minorities (As if France or England are monolithic) or by more "humane" US healthcare system. I would still like to hear why US has an astronomical autism rate compared to other industrialized countries. We cannot have free health care because the system would immediately be swamped by hood baby mammas and mexicans. Egalitarian principles are too lofty for these people so they need to be reminded of something from a practical perspective. A general unrest among the masses can lead to revolutions and uprisings which is clearly bad for the life/property of the rich. "let them eat cake" and "f*ck the poor" are not very good policies. Furthermore, if you have someone who has to file for bankruptcy and lose his/her house because his/her insurance became unreasonably expensive after a cancer or a stroke that person's purchasing power/economic strength is destroyed which is also bad for business...
Medical Bills Leading Cause of Bankruptcy, Harvard Study Finds http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/bankruptcy_study.html
Most problems of the US Healthcare system have their roots in excessive cost. The cost obviously can not continue to escalate in excess of inflation in the general economy, becoming an ever larger fraction of the GDP. So even though nothing significant has been done yet to address the root cause, eventually something will have to be done, as there will be no other choice. May we all live long enough to see that day!