McCain Campaign's Plan for Universal Coverage: Change the Definition of 'Uninsured'

By Jason Rosenbaum, Huffington Post. Posted September 1, 2008.

Last week, the Dallas Morning News again pointed out how far behind Texas is from the rest of the country when it comes to health care. As I've argued before, this is because of the extensive privatization of health care in Texas which throws people out to fend for themselves in the "free market," resulting in more uninsured than the rest of the nation.

John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, thinks the numbers put out by the Census highlighting Texas' plight are "misleading:"

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American -- even illegal aliens -- as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Goodman couldn't be more wrong in his analysis. Using the emergency room for health care is just about the worst thing you can do, both from a cost and health perspective. DrSteveB over at the PNHP blog has a great breakdown of the health arguments that's I'll sum up:

1. There are about 22,000 deaths per year due to lack of health insurance and 11 million Americans with chronic physical illnesses are not getting the medical care they need because they don't have health insurance.
2. Hospitals are getting killed financially in part because of the dumping of care into emergency rooms. They are closing ERs all over the country because of this. Meanwhile wait times in the ER are up even for the critically ill.

See more stories tagged with: health, health care, uninsured, mccain, health insurance

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Health and Wellness! Sign up now »