Wow…

Not much I can say but he shouldn’t have yelled that at that time…

I am not sure saying that ever helps your position, regardless of whether you are arguing, do you ever like being told, “You Lie?”

Remember, be honest.

Why do people keep insisting the Health Care Plan may cover Illegal Aliens?

Let me explain…

The House Bill does state nothing in the Bill is supposed to make payments to illegal aliens.

The exact language is

SEC. 246. NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.

Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.

Great! Argument closed, right?

Not so fast…

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, passed in 1986, requires emergency rooms have to treat all who enter, regardless of their ability to pay SO LONG AS there is an emergency medical issue…

What is an “emergency?”  MSN has a post that states

According to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), an emergency medical condition means:

(A) a medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in:

- placing the health of the individual (or, with respect to a pregnant woman, the health of the woman or her unborn child) in serious jeopardy

- serious impairment to bodily functions, or

- serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part; or

(B) with respect to a pregnant woman who is having contractions:

- that there is inadequate time to make a safe transfer to another hospital before delivery, or

- that transfer may pose a threat to the health or safety of the woman or the unborn child.

Interesting…

Furthermore, the Act, according to Wikipedia, specifies that

Examination and treatment cannot be delayed to inquire about methods of payment or insurance coverage, or a patient’s citizenship or legal status.

What does this all mean?

If the Hospital can’t ask if they are a citizen, how do we know payments won’t be made for those not legal residents of the USA?  How can we track this information?  How can we prevent anyone who is not a citizen from getting their medical coverage under the proposed plan?

We would, in effect, have to alter the language of the an existing law so that people could ask and document citizenship and legal residency status.  It does not mean that ERs would not be required to still provide treatement, but we would be able to assure ourselves that the public health insurance system would not be paying for those procedures.

Of course, I don’t understand why private hospitals should be required to provide those services if the government isn’t going to pay for them.  Seems that is a double standard…

Illegal Aliens are already treated in USA Emergency Rooms, and their children born in the USA become USA citizens.

What is left unsaid is that the ER is often not paid for those medical services, and the Hospital, like any other firm or government, can not continue to operate in with a negative cash flow…

They must obtain payment from others or raise their fees to make sure they are not always negative due to a Federal Law that says they MUST provide emergency medical coverage to anyone, regardless of their citizenship or their ability to pay.

Let that sink in for a moment.

I want everyone to have coverage and be safe, but I understand that we can’t get any medical procedure we want or cover everyone because WE still have to pay for the coverage and the procedures. It matters not that you don’t write a check when you get the procedure because you write a check to the USA government when you pay your taxes.

If you don’t pay taxes, someone else is paying for your coverage… Before you get too happy, remember what happens when the government runs out of money for any particular item…

The “front lawn” in DC is full of weeds and has a broken irrigation system. The people in charge of the Vietnam Memorial are spending $96,000.00 to fix a broken irrigation system and to remove weeds and “fix” the lawn.

This is the government we trust to run Social Security, Medicare, and the VA… According to CBS,

For Medicare, the threshold when benefits exceed program income occurred last year. For Social Security, that threshold will be crossed in 2017, one year earlier than the 2018 date projected in last year’s report.

There are legal requirements for the USA government to provide funding, but we don’t know what funding will have to be provided to keep Social Security operating. Will it be 1 Billion or 3 Trillion? Forecasting, as we have all seen, is difficult to do accurately.

What we need to do is:

1.  Get out of debt - do this by living in a frugal manner and by not spending on “wants.”

2.  Put 10% of your net income into retirement accounts - whether cash, bonds, stocks, a mix, etc.

Other than that, there is very little you can do, so you might as well do what you can.

Ask yourself if living “large” now is better than living in any decency later.  Of course, I am not sure that works with us in the USA since we appear to be all about NOW and not about any long term plan…

Lots of sites have “talked” about how a for-profit system is a disaster…

I have someone who has submitted to me information and enough proof to justify me posting this…

Mr. Happy has private health insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.  He has a chronic disease (diabetes), has had a son born three months premature, and has had his wife undergo surgery.  He has been to the emergency room over 12 times in the past 7 years, and he is…..

Happy with his health care coverage.

He is not broke or in bankruptcy.  Perhaps it is BCBS’s plan that he participates in is so much better than those plans everyone else participates in, but should we, the people, demand that he get the same care we do–perhaps his employer is willing to accept those costs.

You want my suggestion?

Ask your congress person why they don’t propose to cover every USA citizen with the same health plan offered to USA federal employees–you know, the health care options the congress members get to choose to cover their health care needs.

Congress could just as easily pass a new law giving every USA citizen the same health care they enjoy…

Remember, Congress will keep their current plan and not be required to participate in the new proposed health care system.

Why don’t they provide everyone with what they provide themselves? Oh, you don’t know what options they have? See the governments web-site…

I dare you to call and ask…