Posted on 08/13/2004 8:08:01 AM PDT by Dubya
"We'll be fair," he said. "Quite often, we've treated people who were thought to be illegal and needed health care. The doctors have some leeway. It just won't be as wide open."
So that's code for "nothing's actually changed"?
They will go ahead and treat the illegals, just don't let the lazy Americans know about it.
What a group of JERKS our political leaders are.
You have put it very well.
Answer those questions and see how many of your answers don't involve the race or INS status of the sick.
Most MDs and private clinics welcome illegal laborers because they are profitable. Many are covered by employer HMO plans or can pay cash.
Ping.
Either I don't understand what your post means, or you are for free health care.
I disagree.
You can get that in Canada I hear.
LOL, that must be why hospitals and emergency rooms across the southwest are going bankrupt and closing down.
Fact is, the vast majority of illegal aliens do not pay for their health care, you and I do.
Of course there are the Buchanan/Tancredo low brows who would revel in watching people suffer and die from lack of medical care as long as their immigration papers were not in order.
ping
GOOD!!!!
Hospitals in rural areas everywhere are having trouble competing with larger, better equipped urban hospitals. It has nothing to do with illegals, it has to do with people with insurance being willing to drive longer distances for better services.
Would you want open heart surgery in an out of date twenty bed rural hospital, or would you let your insurance company pay for an air ambulance to a state of the art major medical center?
Which countries did you see people dying on the streets?
In the past 12 months, Phoenix and Tucson lost 2 or 3 emergency rooms, due to illegal immigrants.
And yes, it has everything to do with illegals.
I live in the county where we have hospital districts that are paid for by our property taxes. How long can the government tax us to pay for illegals? The taxpayer is supposed to be quiet pay their taxes (if they want to keep their homes) and don't say a word.
Our local hospital emergency room is full of these illegals while those of us who are responsible and have insurance have to wait. I agree we should be humanitarian, but we should treat them and send them home immediately.
Illegal aliens should be deported. Period. While these criminals get often free care, our taxpayers are struggling to pay their own bills.
Before you call people lowbrows, consider that this article mentions preventive care. Usually this means things like well baby checks, various types of screening, health education, counseling, and so on. A lot of the taxpayer money allocated for this stuff goes to pay salaries for people on the government expert gravy train. One health center I looked at was helping people with resumes because it was good for their mental health.
Preventive care is not disease management, in which people with a chronic disease are treated. Preventive care includes things that American citizens paying for their own care might skip--well child checks, blood pressure, mammography, and so on. It is for things that aren't necessarily urgent or even cost saving. Preventive care often does lower individual risk, however. The good news is that it isn't that expensive. If you feel so strongly about it why don't you start a private fund so that illegals can buy these services from physicians with donated money?
EMTALA that requires hospitals to take care of anyone dumped in an ER. It isn't necessarily humane. The Feds are supposed to pay the bill for this through grants for uncompensated care. Still, hospitals along the border are going bankrupt. The problem is that EMTALA forces ER docs to work for free, and has stifled the development of cheaper urgent care clinics--if you can force a hospital to provide the care for free, why go somewhere that requires you to pay $50?
Hong Kong. India. I've also seen people in the Middle East suffering from untreated conditions. We won't tolerate suffering by humans or animals because we are civilized.
Would you be kind enough to document this. And could you be more specific about which middle east countries. I have been to many places in these areas and I didn't see what you say you seen?
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