The Congressman who yelled liar at President Obama during his speech last night has already apologized but it may already be too late as donations to his opponent for Congress next year rose sharply overnight as he capitalized on raising money to run against "the man who yelled liar at Obama." However, no matter how impolite that shout was, the Congressman did raise a valid point when he yelled liar after the President noted illegal aliens will not be covered under his plan. What happens to illegal aliens if they can't get coverage?
Under EMTALA, emergency rooms must stabilize any patient that walks in the door regardless of coverage or citizenship. Does this mean illegal aliens will no longer be able to go into an ER and get care that is more expensive than it should be because they couldn’t get preventive care? If so, who will pay for their care? Us with that hidden tax mentioned that we already pay to cover the un-insured or is the plan just to let them die in the street?
I think the President mistakenly got caught up in the emotions running through this country that is anti anything good for illegal aliens. That is not looking at the big picture. If the President really wants to lower medical costs the illegal aliens must be covered. Call me a bleeding heart liberal instead of a fiscal conservative but I'd rather spend an extra $1 a month in taxes to cover their preventive care than pay an extra $10 a month in insurance premiums to pay for their emergency care.
This has been been the big problem with the health care debate. We are letting emotions get in the way of fiscal common sense. Too many concentrate on how we can not let the government be involved at all while ignoring the possibility that reform with a public option may save us money. And maybe that is what the President should focus on. Get away from the emotions of government death panels (in lieu of insurance company death panels) pulling the plug on Grandma (or worse, fat panels) and concentrate on the cool, fiscal logic of Spock.
I read an article that noted that a huge percentage of medical costs is due to doctors’ offices wrestling with the different paperwork of over a 1,000 different health care plans. Maybe in lieu of a forced public option for insurance there should be a forced public form option where all companies are forced to use the same forms. Maybe make them an automated form a little later, just fill in the different insurance company and have all their information populate the form instantly, including possible specialists etc. and move on from there.
If private insurance is so much better they should be able to compete with a public option. We already have that in our mail and package delivery system. The USPS is a perfect example of private industry doing better than the government and yet shows there is still the need for a public option. Fed Ex & UPS picked off the lucrative package business and email killed their private letter business model. Yet, while a private entity may be able to deliver 1st class mail to urban areas for 44 cents a letter they would never do that for rural areas so you still need to provide a public option for the crud no one else wants to deliver.
Meanwhile, if you're illegal, poor, and have diabetes, you'll still die a miserable death due to lack of care. However, fortunately for you, the emergency room will cut your leg off when it gets really bad, ensuring you become a dependent of the state for the rest of your days. We're still civilized enough for that at least.
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