And we need to repeal EMTALA...
FTA-—Texas hospitals are on the hook for $121.8 million incurred by illegals’ 31,000 visits in Nov 2024 alone, according to data collected by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (THHSC).
The findings came after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an order directing THHSC to collect and provide quarterly data on the cost of illegal aliens to the state’s hospitals and the number of visits from illegal aliens. The first full year of data from THHSCC will be released in January 2026.
↑ This!
It's one of the few things I disagree with Reagan over.
I'm glad you brought that up, it's very important.
EMTALA was passed with huge bipartisan majorities in both Houses of Congress. More Republicans voted for it than Democrats. It was signed by Ronald Reagan.
The essence of the law is that any hospital that receives a dime of Federal money (i.e., all hospitals) must treat all patients arriving in an Emergency Room regardless of ability to pay.
President Reagan and the Congress did not even consider funding this obligation (meaning, the government that created this obligation thought, "well hospitals have enough money, let them pay for it").
The cost of this obligation (and the punitive fines needed to preserve it) is in at least tens of billions of dollars/year, and it is destabilizing, especially to smaller and more rural hospitals, which are closing at an accelerating rate.
And I agree, it's been a disaster.
But consider this: Care for people who can't or won't pay for it IS OVERWHELMINGLY POPULAR. Members of Congress who are in office through elections may or may not vote for nationalized hospital care - but they will NEVER take away the elements of the system they have already nationalized.
There is a private hospital in my town that bills itself as a “Medical Center”. Basically, it’s a hospital with an ER, but public ambulances don’t go there.
It takes no Medicaid or uninsured and Medicare is restricted (and generally has substantial co-pays to make payments match what private insurance pays).
Clean, efficient, quick, no illegals, best doctors.
Wave of the future.