I have no problem paying for basic health care and if people are stupid enough to go to the emergency room instead of calling their doctor or going to an urgent care clinic (the kind that are open all night and can do most things up to and including minor surgeries for reasonable prices) then they have nobody but themselves to blame. Emergency rooms are for life threatening emergencies most other needs can either wait until morning or you could go to urgent care clinic instead.
re: your comments on emergency room care and paying for normal non-life saving medical care. If I had to guess I'd say you have a high-paying job and are healthy. Either way, you speak from a position of privilege and its obvious. Now, I'm in the same boat, thankfully, but I recognize the difference. *Most* people don't stand a chance of paying for standard care. Especially with costs as they are now. People who are too poor to afford to pay to visit a PCP when they get strep will either
a) just ignore the problem until it goes away or gets worse. (Bad for them, costs everyone more in the long run.)
b) walk into an emergency room, give a fake name, get the care they need eventually while passing the cost on to the rest of the taxpayers, and then go home. (All of which is made possible by the litigious nature of medicine in this country. An ER *cannot* turn anyone away that could turn around and sue if their condition worsened.)
What really needs to happen to the US medical system is tort reform. If you'd like more on the subject, walk into any ER, and ask any nurse or doctor. They'll agree, and give you lots of well-thought-out reasons why.
In the mean time, frankly, if my government wants to spend huge sums of tax dollars, I'd much rather they
a) consult us first, do the best they can to make measured decisions they think we'll support, and then spend the money inside the country -- thereby directly improving the quality of life of myself and the citizens around me
than the alternative we've been getting instead:
b) screw my opinion and spend billions a day fighting a bogus war none of us wanted.
Why is it that this country can go along with the more expensive b like quiet powerless little sheep, but the moment our government decides to spend our money on our country in a manner that isn't killing other people in a far off land, we get our panties in a bunch?
Discuss.
