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Originally Posted by AGDee
Well, and if we're going to move to a system of health care where only those who can afford will get it, then hospitals can't be held responsible for treating people who can't pay either. Currently, they can't turn people away. How many store owners would remain open if the rule was "Let the people who can afford to buy your goods pay for it but you have to let the others take what they want"? It's not fair to put hospitals in that position.
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I really do appreciate learning your thoughts about this, particularly with your experience.
I agree that saying hospitals must treat but have no recourse to compensation is an unrealistic solution.
But I feel like most proposals for reform go way beyond the scope of this issue and create incentives to shift the cost of some who could pay onto the taxpayers as well as the cost those who honestly can't. And I expect that the efforts to regulate costs for those who can't or won't pay will end up creating problems for the rest of us.
Health care is one of those things that it's really hard to get a handle on. It's also interesting to talk to people about what it was like before most people had insurance. Costs were certainly lower from what I've heard.