Under Obama's healthcare plan, what happens when an uninsured person shows up

[Rex_Goodheart]

at a hospital emergency room? Same as now? For example, suppose an illegal immigrant needs medical attention... will he get treated?

[whatchamacallit]

1. What will happen to a person who can't afford to buy the mandated care under Hillary's?

[Rex_Goodheart]

4. That's a good question, too. I asked about Obama

because I'm assuming now he'll be the nominee... sorry.

[NashVegas]

8. They'll Get Subsidies

..

[dkf]

11. Not if they make decent money, but have stretched themselves so

thin on the expenses side.

Paying back college loans, mortgages, gasoline, food. A lot of Americans are spending more than they make anyway.

[dkf]

2. Hospitals still have to treat illegal immigrants, but

neither plan covers them with insurance.

[Rex_Goodheart]

5. So, it's going to be just like today. Stabilize them and let them go.

I guess.

What if I, an American citizen, for whatever reason, couldn't afford the insurance?

[dkf]

10. That is a problem with Hillary's plan.

She defines affordability based on how much you make, not how many bills you have or how stretched you are.

In Massachusetts they have a provision to exempt hardship cases from the mandate and 20% of their uninsured have been approved for waiver. This is what Obama was talking about in the last debate.

I don't believe Hillary is espousing a hardship provision and if you can't afford it, your wages will still be garnished or you will be penalized, then you will have to figure out how to "make it work".

[blocker]

3. does the illegal alien get treated now?

they will surely be treated but i don't think the governement will pay for the whole treatment. Same goes for clinton's plan!

[Jersey Devil]

6. Both their plans suck

I am not happy with either one of them on this issue and do not consider either to be proposing "universal" health care.

Unfortunately, at least on this issue (throw in outsourcing as well), I don't believe a word either has to say. I won't do it, but this is why Ralph Nader still gets some votes.

[Rex_Goodheart]

7. Why can't reporters ask them real, practical questions?

That would be among the first I'd ask either one.

[Bread and Circus]

9. COBRA laws enforce that a hospital must treat the patient and they generally

do or they get in a lot of trouble.

After the service, the hospital will attempt to bill the patient.

If the patient doesn't pay their bill, the hospital might try to take them to court or set up a payment plan with the patient. If worse comes to worst the patient just can't or won't pay the bill, the hospital eats the loss. That's it.

People say that the hospital spreads the cost around to everyone else but that raises the question "what is the mechanism of spreading this cost around?"

The answer to that is that there is no mechanism as the hospital doesn't set it's own prices for the "rest of us". Rather the prices of services is dictated by the government and the insurance companies for the most part.

[WVRevy]

12. I'm not sure about the illegal immigrant question, however...

...if you, as a citizen, show up, you'll be expected to either 1) pay "back premiums" (Sorry, I'm not sure for how long or how this would work...health care isn't my biggest interest in the race, so I'm not as well versed as I probably should be) or 2) pay the cost of the visit. In the short term, option 2 may actually be the cheaper of the two options. But if there is something that will require further treatment - an illness like cancer or many others - then the person will be able to pay back premiums and then be insured for future visits, which could be MUCH cheaper than paying as they go.

As for people that can't afford it, they will get help. Partially, that could come in subsidized form, and partially it will come with lowered insurance premiums for everyone, making the starting point itself that much more achievable. I think Obama fully understands that most people WANT to purchase health insurance, but that some of them simply can't afford it. His plan focuses on getting health care costs within reach for those people, rather than mandating that everyone HAS to have it.

JMHO...and any factual errors are my own, not Obama's. His health care plan is fully explained on his website if you have the time to give it proper attention.