PLAYER57832 wrote:stahrgazer wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote: Anyway, if these services were paid for instead of being provided for free, then the doctors would have more income to report and would be paying more taxes. Having that income to tax could potentially offset some of everyone else's tax bills. Given what doctors tend to make and the number of free visits nationwide... that might actually be a significant sum of money.
Yes. and as I said, because they aren't able to report income, others are having to pay higher tax percentages to make up the differences.
PLUS they are able to report non-payments as losses of income or the typical cost of the services as a charitable gift, reducing the amount of income they did receive that they have to pay on; and finally, the government does give out money to some charitable hospitals, etc. (Planned Parenthood is NOT the only medical institution that receives government funding) which means tax dollars are paying for it already.
But remember, not every community has such compassionate docs, either, to agree to treat a patient for free.
A big driver for the rise in cost of insurance isn't for the "poor," it's for covering those with "pre-existing conditions." Yet, most who detest "Obamacare" agree to the part of "Cover pre-existing conditions" - the very part of the plan that's driving insurance costs up.
Cost rises for "everyone" just in case someone later-on develops one of those pre-existing conditions and the insurance company is forced to keep insuring you rather than cancel your coverage; and because so many with pre-existing conditions who could not get any insurance coverage, now can.
But in the long run, covering everyone before a disease progresses to cataclysmic proportions can save the nation money by reducing emergency room care and reducing the need for surgeries before they happen.
Its never been about covering the poor.. they get Medicaid. That is the irony. The people getting pinched are working people, and that means working people of all incomes. In PA, kids with disabilities get full coverage by Medicaid, as long as the parents income is under 250K. If you make over 250K, then your kids don't get covered even if they have disabilities... and in some cases that can mean over a hundred thousand a year in care.
All the arguments about "could have gotten cheaper coverage", etc, etc miss the biggest point of all. Its INSURANCE. Insurance is not about being cost effective for everyone, all the time. Insurers would not be in business if there were no profit involved. Insurance is about making sure that everyone has coverage, in case they are the unlucky ones who wind up with huge bills. The real problem today is that more and more people are winding up with those high bills, and not because of abuses (though, yes, abuses do happen, its just that is not the major reason for medical cost increases), but because the care available and needed is increasing so significantly.
Just take cancer, or organ transplants.. never mind bone and joint replacement surgeries, never mind long term therapy for truly sick children. ALL of that is very, very expensive.
Organ transplants? Let's drop that price and increase quantity supplied by opening up the markets for organs.