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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lady Lurksalot who wrote (157)	1/15/2005 9:03:01 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42652

And if you don't pay the bill, ANY county hospital in America will track you down and put a lien on everything you own and garnish your wages until the debt is satisfied. Nonsense. Some are perhaps that aggressive. You owe the money and it is a legitimate debt. But you got the treatment you required. The county hospital in the county next to where I live has operated at a publicly funded loss of tens of millions annually. And they routinely treat people who have been treated FOR YEARS without PAYING A NICKEL. I've never known of them to file liens against ANYONE who was making even a $10/monthly payment, regardless of the size of their bill. Additionally, as a "private pay," your bills probably will be substantially higher than those of your insured brethren. - Holly You just said they're not paying them. You are right that they don't get repriced if you don't have insurance. But in almost every state the typical 21-year old can acquire sufficient insurance coverage for $100/month to insure the finest treatment available, anywhere, and receive repricing at the same time. What you and others apparently want is the Holy Grail -- the best healthcare in the world, that is, in addition, FREE healthcare. Sorry, it doesn't exist. You can get free healthcare, or you can get the best in the world, but you can't get both. Canada proves it. The argument boils down to the following: "Do we sacrifice the best healthcare system in the world so that 100% of Americans can receive substandard care, or do we stick with the current system?" This is really the question. Under the current system, 86% have insurance and thus can receive reasonable healthcare without major expense. The other 14% can receive decent healthcare (i.e., care at least as good as is available in most other countries) -- although, they may come away with debts as a result of their priorities being in places other than healthcare. I know many 21 year olds who CHOOSE to have nice cars over having health insurance. You want to FORCE ME TO PAY FOR THEIR INSURANCE SO THEY CAN HAVE NICE CARS. No way. When they need it, if they don't get repriced and end up with liens, it really isn't my problem.