This might be headed all the way to the supreme court. So I guess we go back to letting uninsured people die, since nobody has any alternatives. http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/01/31/health.care.unconstitutional/index.html
It's obvious that Congress does have the Constitutional right to mandate health insurance, since there is personal liability involved. Why can the government mandate car insurance? Because the owner of a car could cause an accident and be liable for monetary damage to another person's car. The same type of scenario exists for health care. People who don't have insurance and receive health care that they can't pay for are liable for increasing costs/premiums for those who do carry insurance. That's one of the known factors that contributes to rising coverage costs. The idea that the elected government doesn't have the right to be involved in that kind of scenario is idiotic.
Interesting...Ronald Reagan's solicitor general thinks that constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act is a "no brainer". I love the last part there. You always hear the GOP trying to make it sound like the Federal government is more limited under the Constitution than State government. W-R-O-N-G.
This is the United States' wonderful healthcare system in action. This is embarrassing. We have some of the best physicians and hospitals in the world here, but unfortunately only the upper middle class to wealthy can actually afford to go to them. The rest have to consider other options apparently, which for this guy was to rob a bank of $1 so he could go to jail and get healthcare there.
Our HMO based healthcare system is absolutely pathetic. But people in this country are too ignorant and stubborn to realize that there's a better way. The US, North Korea, and a few starving African nations are the only places left on the planet that don't have universal healthcare. The US has a third world healthcare system, and as usual Republicans and the redneck mentality are to blame.
I love our healthcare system. I had a wicked sinus/ear infection that was compounded by a flight. Basically my ears wouldn't clear and I was in a lot of pain. I was out of town on a Sunday so my only option was to visit a local clinic. At the clinic I waited for 90 minutes to see a doctor and when I got to see him the appointment only lasted 15 minutes. That 15 minute appointment cost $780. I was charged $60 for visiting the office on the weekend and another $300 for not making an appointment. Of course they didn't take appointments on the weekend so I didn't have a choice. Insurance wont cover those crappy charges so I'm paying $360 out of my own pocket. That's a load of bull-crap.
Gave me a prescription for some meds which probably helped. It was worth the price. I needed to get on a plane again and my head would have exploded if my ears didn't clear. http://youtu.be/klVhwlwHhY4
Charging for a service they don't provide (appointments on weekends) would get them in trouble over here, you really need to get industry watchdog/regulators in place. Daylight robbery. We have regulators for most industries and trading standards for when companies outright rip people off.
The weekend charge is ridiculous. It's like they expect people to only get sick Monday - Friday 9 - 5.
Our "regulators" appointed here are generally from the corporations they're supposed to regulate. The concept of "conflict of interest" doesn't seem to exist in the US.
The whole 'don't expect you to get sick here on weekends' thing does exist here as nearly all GP surgeries will be closed but we do have open walk-in centers. Again it is free but you usually have to wait. Used one around Christmas when my daughter got an ear infection and conjunctivitis. Waited 90 minutes to see someone as they only ever have 2 or 3 doctors on but it was worth the wait. When my wife miscarried 7 years ago we used one as it was a Saturday night and it was packed. Got seen pretty quickly though because of the complaint. At the time it was only light bleeding so we didn't think it warranted A&E.