Republican E.R. Healthcare plan and mandate
Ronald Reagan's unfunded healthcare mandate.
It should be remembered in 1986 the Republicans controlled the Senate. This was a bipartisan law.
In 1986, the GOP icon signed a law that requires hospitals to treat poor people and undocumented immigrants
It
explains why the US spends twice as much per person on healthcare than the rest of the industrialized countries. ER's are three times more expensive and people go for treatment on emergency basis when its too late or advanced stages when treament is much higher.
By Alex Seitz-Wald
As the Romney campaign debates itself about whether the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is an evil tax or a unconstitutional penalty, it’s worth remembering that Republican presidential icon Ronald Reagan imposed his own national healthcare mandate on the country.
The mandate is well know today — it requires emergency rooms to treat anyone in need, regardless of their ability to pay — but the fact that Reagan signed it into law is often forgotten.
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In 1986, Congress passed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which contained the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). The law requires hospitals to treat patients in need of emergency care regardless of their ability to pay, citizenship, or even legal status. It applies to any hospital that takes Medicare funds, which is virtually every hospital in the country.
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“As a result, local and state governments began to abdicate responsibility for charity care, shifting this public responsibility to all hospitals.
EMTALA became the de facto national healthcare policy for the uninsured. Congress in 2000 made EMTALA enforcement a priority, with penalties more than $1.17 million, nearly as much as in the first 10 years (about $1.8 million) of the statute combined.” Many observers argue that the law drives up the costs for everyone else, as hospitals have to raise their prices on paying customers in order to cover the costs of their charity care.
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/05/reagans_healthcare_mandate/
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