Illegal aliens and national health care

Some will see this as a reason we should shut down the borders, and I agree.

A 30-year-old Mexican man in a coma at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago has ignited a dispute over a little-known practice at hospitals—sending medically needy undocumented immigrants back to their countries of origin.

The disagreement revolves around Francisco Pantaleon, who arrived in the U.S. 11 years ago and suffered a severe brain hemorrhage in mid-July, according to his sister Socorro. A father of two, Pantaleon worked at a carwash and has no health insurance, she said.

The medical center believes there is "little hope for recovery," according to a statement released Tuesday, and officials arranged for Pantaleon to be transferred to a hospital in Acapulco at UIC's expense. An official said his immediate family consented to the move.

But Pantaleon's sister and cousin are protesting that arrangement and have retained lawyers in hopes of preventing it. "This is an injustice," said his sister, who worries that Pantaleon won't survive the trip or find adequate care in Mexico.

But I will add that it is a strong reason for having National Health Care paid for by a national sales tax.

Illegal aliens are here. They are getting free care. And we are paying for it.


Also included in that group is everyone who live in the "gray market" areas and don't pay taxes on income, including the "poor" who don't have insurance yet use the emergency facilities as their "doctor."

We already have a health care delivery system, and an administrative system, Medicare, that know how to work with each other. All we need to do is fund it.

Millions of people who are now paying for their insurance can pocket that money.

Millions of people who are now getting "free" insurance through their employer can ask for raises to compensate for the new tax. Said raise to come from the money the employer is no longer having to pay for insurance.

Looks like a win win to me. Who will oppose it? Everyone who think they are now getting "free insurance." Everyone who think that the "poor" aren't supposed to pay for their health care. Everyone who think they don't need health insurance.. that would be mostly the young and dumb. Everyone who think that the current system is OK.

So it doesn't have a chance.

But at some point it is going to have to be fixed. A national sales tax is the only way to pay for it that would be acceptable. It can be made fair by exempting certain "essentials" such as unprepared food, utilities, gasoline/fuel, used cars beyond a certain age, etc.


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