: [: Uhh, excuse me Doc, but here in the usa it's illegal for a hospital to turn anyone away if they need medical attention.] :
: True for Public Hospitals. I have been turned away (transferered) from private hospitals "here in the usa" - it all depends on just how extensive the emergancy is deemed to be (and your insurance policy) (mainly the latter). If you can survive the length of time it takes an ambulance to get you from a private hospital to a public facility - off you go (off i went).
Then when it's needed, when it's urgent enough, it's available. I think that's what your saying.
So we agree that medical attention is available to anyone who needs it...?
See, I thought that you said the poor are refused medical attention because they are poor.
:
: [There are many many poor people in Oakland who have had their lives saved from gunshot, overdose knifings you name it at Highland Hospital gratis the tax-payer. I pay premiums for Kaiser and I can guarantee you that surgery for one gunshot costs more then two years of resources spent on the care that I receive. In other words, there is not necessarily the direct correlation between health care received and wealth accumulated that you assert.]
:
: There are always exceptions - but taken in the aggregate I think it holds.
Highland Hospital and others publically funded hospitals exist for the exceptions. Just out of curiosity, do you have any figures on the number of people who are provided services at public hospitals?
:
: [: Here's a question for you. From which quintile does nearly half of all income tax receipts come from?]
: I presume the highest. So?
So it seems that the source of many of the poor's need's are actually met by the very class that you assert have privileges that the poor do not have. These transfer payments do not stop at publically funded hospitals, food stamps, welfare payments, GA (general assistance), etc are also covered by tax-payers.
Normand
None.
