Universal Health Care

The Journal of Health Affairs has a new study out that says that half of bankruptcies are due to high medical bills. This is true even of those who have health insurance but even worse for those who don't.

Now consider this: if someone is uninsured or has poor insurance and then gets sick or injured and has to go to a hospital, how do they pay for their care? They often don't. When the hospitals come looking for payment these people declare bankruptcy as the only viable means of keeping the bill collector off their backs.

So who ends up paying for the medical costs? The cost gets spread around to those who can pay, thus raising the medical bills even higher and forcing even more people into bankruptcy!

And Bush wants us to think the problem is all those evil lawyers and their medical malpractice lawsuits!

The simple truth of the matter is that universal health care lowers medical costs by spreading the burden of coverage commensurately throughout the population. Those who would complain that this means they would have to pay for other people's health insurance have to pay for it anyway!

Wouldn't universal health care at least be more upfront and honest?