McCain’s Solution to Uninsured Crisis:
August 28th, 2008
Wow:
John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain’s health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)
“So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime,” Mr. Goodman said. “The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.
“So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved.”
An emergency room does not provide cost effective treatment. You cannot get mammograms at an emergency room. You cannot get chemotherapy in an emergency room. You cannot get regular prescriptions for chronic problems in an emergency room. You cannot get a comprehensive check up that could catch problems before they become emergencies in an emergency room. This is, quite simply, a giant middle finger to every American suffering without health insurance. The McCain camp does not think that there is a real problem and intends to do nothing to help correct it.
Categories: General, Politics | 3 Comments
