Now with medicare fee cutbacks (which most private insurers parallel) and increased oversight & regulation, hospitals are barely staying afloat.

Also “voluntary” medical staff must take “service” call to care for those from whom we will never be reimbursed (even on xmas or new years eve at 11:50pm) in order to remain on the hospital staff, something we NEED in order to have part of our malpractice coverage.

The system definitely doesn’t work, but uninsured patients aren’t getting screwed – everyone else is.

Well! If this is true (and that’s a big “if,” but, for the sake of argument, let’s say it is…), then we can save almost 200,000 lives a year by closing all the hospitals – and without those evil doctors killing 98,000 more (since there won’t be hospitals for them to malpractice in) that’s almost 300,000 lives each year!

I vote for closing all the hospitals – after all, nothing should be more important than saving lives…

IOM (2004): 18,000 unnecessary deaths are attributable to lack of health coverage every year.

IOM (1999): medical errors caused up to 98,000 deaths annually and should be considered a national epidemic.

HealthGrades (2004): using same criteria as IOM (AHRQ data): An average of 195,000 people in the U.S. died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.

You live in a tunnel!”

Actually, you live in a world of ignorance.

Medical care in this country is available to anyone that needs it regardless of means. You can now even go to Walmart and buy generic medications for pennies.

“Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Dr. Hebert just did a good post about this several days ago.”

Yes, it is not always the case, but it is clear that of the 47 million “uninsured” 1/3 are eligible for medicaid but have not signed up for one reason or another. Additionally, another 1/3 can afford an HDHP but have chosen not to purchase one. The final 1/3, or approx 15 million people, need some help and this can be achieved with a government funded voucher program to assist them to purchase an HDHP. Using this approach, 100% of Americans can be covered with minimal cost. The HDHPs with such a plan need to be true bare bones catastrophic coverage stripped of all the ludicrous state mandates piled on by the various lobbyists (ie chiropractic, mental health, massage, IVF, etc).

As for medicaid, You embarrass yourself by what you say. Not everyone can get medicaid and Im certain you know that. Most of the working poor DO NOT get medicaid so you just keep living and believing the way you do if thats what it takes to make your day easier, and allows you to keep right on hating the people who you claim you want to help.

Or you can give up smoking and drinking and illegal drugs and use that money to buy your prescriptions (and be healthier too!)

What a deal!

You live in a tunnel!

Even so, the state is still at the bottom in health of the population.

Healthcare coverage is not equal to healthcare and health has little to do with either. All of shadowfaxes other patients are going to die also, as am I and as is he. The primary determinant of when is luck and lifestyle rather than medical therapy.

Poor people always have been sicker than middle class people and always will be. Many are poor because they already have chronic medical conditions. Many others are poor because of behavioral patterns of pleasure seeking, disregard for long-term consequences and impulsivity–which take as great a toll on health as it does on fiances.