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by zghst 3181 days ago
Also if you look at the people who make up the uninsured, most uninsured are quite eligible for coverage either through an ACA tax cut, employer-sponsored insurance, or Medicaid eligibility.

The largest chunk of uninsured, based on a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, are "undocumented immigrants" with an estimated 5.4 million uninsured. The remainder of those who aren't able to obtain health insurance (not to be confused with health care, which any individual can obtain by going into an emergency room or free health clinic) have either a coverage gap (2.6 million) or their income is too high to obtain a subsidy (3.0 million).
2 comments
tryingagainbro 3181 days ago
"Most," "largest chunk" etc don't really work in real life. My idea was for the government to give free (essential) vaccines to everyone, no ID /questions asked. It makes $$ sense.
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zghst 3181 days ago
Legally, the government cannot give out vaccines with no questions asked, no ID. Every asset the government distributes must be accountable. We must keep a immunization record (usually in the patient's possession) of who and when, along with records on the health care provider's end for compliance.

Say someone experiences an adverse reaction to a vaccine (which does happen) and wants to sue the hospital; no questions asked means that the medical provider did not do a proper assessment of the patient, leaving that professional legally liable to damages.

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sp332 3181 days ago
That's interesting, and it's a good argument for the money to come from the government and not insurance companies. When it's a public health issue, you want make sure everyone is covered.
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zghst 3181 days ago
I definitely agree with you. I'm very much in favor of an optional single payer solution, consolidating the various programs down into one.

The issue is that doing so will put millions in the insurance industry out of work. It becomes more than a public health issue, and very much so that looks to eliminate a industry that has wide power to retaliate through various strategies.

Not to mention, single payer is a quite resource intensive strategy that will require extensive capital to start versus spending now for more coverage through a program.

Because of this, single payer may never come to America through federal means.

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