Hospitals are required to treat emergencies but only as long as it'll take them to stabilize the one who needs treatment, then they are permitted to pack them up & piss on their graves. My sister used to work at Boston City Hospital, that's where the poor folk go, the equipment was out dated & constantly being jury rigged. The numbers of mix ups that should've evolved care caused deaths but you probably couldn't find better staff when it comes to gun shot victims. This is where you'd be taken to in cases of emergencies unless you hhad a car & could drive yourself to some other ER (at least it was when I lived there). Now COBRA of course is the fail safe system that those who received health insurance through their employer won't lose health insurance when they are no longer employed, great system it costs any where from $1,000 -2,000 per month for a family of 4 depending upon what type of coverage you want/need. After being discharged from the hospital I was amazed to find that some the reports focused on wither or not I had a family with a support system in place, that I was well dressed & well nourished, seemed to be intelligent, I that I was gainfully employed & that I had insurance that would cover the costs. How many of these things mattered when it came down to wither or not I qualified for treatment & if they would allow me live or die. How many people die because they may be poor & can't afford insurance or afford decent clothes or may not have been able to pay the high costs of better education or to be well fed. I guess that would not only leave out the large segment of the poorer population but also many of the lower middle class & if many of today's middle class thinks that their not just one or two steps in front of the homeless think about it again. You lose your job & you may be six months to a year without employment under COBRA you shell out $1,000 a month for insurance which one of your kids needs constant medication & routinely has to be seen by their primary physician. So you collect unemployment for awhile which doesn't do much more than feed your family so now you're worrying about the rent or the mortgage & you for go your own medication because you need to be able to cover your kid's co-payment make sure they eat well & some how keep a roof over their heads & clothes on their back. The hell with trying to pay for them to receive a good education you're main worry is keeping them alive, then fed & healthy, then clothed, then keeping them sheltered all the while keeping the wolf away from your door. OH SHIT, my spouse just lost their part time job. Ask Tom Delay how much his health insurance costs & how much it costs him out of pocket for medical expenses & who foots his bill for all this if not the working stiff. It might not look all that fair when you think of all those who worked all their life to pay for Tom's good health & can't afford to care for themselves.


Aren't WE THE PEOPLE his employer, isn't he working for US? He must be employed by the people because aren't the people paying for all his benefits. It's about the time the people give him & his kind an Enron Anemia & a cardboard box for shelter.


Our health system sucks unless you make enough that you can afford to pay for it, in which case most likely you receive it at no charge at all or for a small percentage, in proportion to what you may make. Try eating cat food for supper, your one decent meal of the day, so you can say healthy & buy your medication because you can't afford to be sick which in some cases is a death sentence.


Barry