And yet if they're in the US illegally, it's free. (Which means you and I have to pay for it.) What a pantload of crap.
A for-profit health care system can never work for the betterment of a society. Why is this so hard to understand?
Things that are beat into you, but wrong, by your parents and by media advertising from the time you are a small child are very hard to "unlearn". "If you think government is bad you will create bad government" -- G. Soros
The care received at U.S. Hospital Emergency Intake facilities for patients that can't pay is referred to by physicians as "treat and street". It's approximately the same level of medical treatment, or worse, that you'd be afforded in any civilized country if you couldn't pay, regardless of whether you were legally in the country. It's a required minimum level of healthcare delivery for any country that wants to be considered as "civilized." This is not something worth debating or lamenting. Consider the alternatives --the practical alternatives at least -- and it will be immediately obvious that if this issue becomes a critical concern then the only reasonable alternative is to reduce the number of people here illegally. Not treating people that are here illegally is wisely off the table.
The provision of emergency care has been the standard BUT you conveniently fail to point out that eight of the dem candidates on stage last night have said they support medicare for all for illegals and the remaining two have said they are undecided. And yet you said in your post: "This is not something worth debating or lamenting." Really? Don't be so sure even though you apparently think you have already settled the issue for others. Medicare for All is not just emergency care. It is the same package they are advocating for all citizens. In other words if you have been paying into medicare through payroll taxes for fifty years you would get the same health care plan as someone who crossed over the Rio Grande last week or has overstayed their visa. Meanwhile the vets go around with their tin cup trying to get more coverage and have to watch all these glorious plans to provide health care for illegals. Illegals First-Americans Last. Yeh. nice plan.
My wife just went to the emergency room and it cost $7,000 but after insurance $100 bucks. As I understand it we Must pay high prices to cover those who can't or don't or won't pay. It's like that pharma rep who said Americans have to pay higher cost for meds to cover the cost of R&D since no one else on the planet wants to.
That's not the reason your costs are so high. Your cost was much higher than $100. The Pharma Rep is wrong.
I dunno... It's like saying that a for-profit car company will never work for the betterment of its vehicles. As far as I've been alive, the healthcare system in America's been for profit, and it's led in research and being on the cutting edge. I have also seen it erode the government safety nets in a move towards crony capitalism that is only chasing profits. I believe the public & private option can co-exist, but not as long as the private option is able to buy politicians in Washington. And that goes for pretty much everything. On the flip side, a completely public option CAN and DOES work in most other developed countries. Think of the private prison system for instance. Nobody cares for prisoners, so private companies can and will stretch a dollar & strip regulation by bullying governments. In theory, the private prison system would work if they were held to government standards. It will never work as long as they keep shaping the law to undermine those standards & increasing the police state by shaping criminal punishment.