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Originally Posted by Undertoad
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The people who can't afford insurance can't afford to pay that high ER bill either, so costs get passed along
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...to Medicaid. You forgot Medicaid. |
Medicaid covers the cost of prescriptions for certain eligible low income disabled and/or elderly. It may also confer other benefits, as well. MediCARE is probably what get hits with the higher hospital costs, just to pick bones.
People with Medicare/Medicaid usually have their own health care providers and don't need to resort to the ER unless they've been hit by a truck.
As a tax payer/health insurance consumer which would you rather pay?
A) $70 for a doctor's visit
B) $300 for a trip to the ER
C) $? if we just stop providing any health care what-so-ever to those whose incomes/employment don't allow them to buy private insurance.
I put a "?" for part C, because you have to factor in such intangible costs as lost productivity from a wage earner, sick children going to school and possibly infecting others, babies with failure to thrive, etc., etc. Plus you have to consider the psychological/sociological impact of US cities and streets becoming even worse than they are now with blind and sick and other disabled people begging for coins.
I experienced "C" when I traveled in South America, and I emphatically reject it as an option for the US. Therefore, I choose "A." But its a free country, and most of my fellow citizens seem to be choosing "B" because they are unaware or indifferent or in a deep coma of some sort.
