Phisherman wrote:

I like the idea of hospitals charging $300 for all emergencies. That
would help keep the hypocondriacs and flu patients from taking
resources from those that really need it. I rushed a friend to a
hospital once, he had a burst appendix. He passed out on the floor
while filling out page 4 of the 7 required pages to be admitted.
Hospitals will work with those without money--you can pay whatever you
can per month until paid up.

I've read news reports that Canada has a problem with people who go to the
doctor for every case of the sniffles since there are no co-pay fees to
discourage that; they take up resources needed by those who have more
serious complaints. Apparently some hospitals in the U.S. have closed their
ERs because they can't afford to run them, they are de facto health clinics
for the uninsured. I'd have no problem with ERs being restricted to actual
emergency cases involving immediate threats to life and limb. But then that
would leave millions of people with no health care at all since the ER is
the only place they have. It sort of looks like clinics providing basic
preventative care would be more efficient that waiting until someone is so
sick they have no choice but to go to the ER, doesn't it.