Yes LM!

Hospitals are closing their doors for many reasons. Several hospitals in my area have gone bankrupt in the last few years for reasons that had nothing to do with illegal immigration. Bush's incessant cutting of Medicare reimbursement so he can use the money to pay for your war plays a huge role.

First of all, Law, I didn't make the claim, I was simply quoting the article in the New York Times.

Secondly, since you and yours obviously didn't need a secondary care facility, you weren't transferred to one.

Third, you don't need insurance because you and your dependents have the full services of military hospitals and medical/dental care wherever they're available.

Finally, if you need to "see the regulation," look it up. You're much better equipped to do so than I am, since you've more experience with Google than am I.

In the meantime, I'll look up the difference between 'not for profit' and 'tax-exempt.' Hospitals, other than private facilities, are tax-exempt. I may be wrong, but knowing the requirements for a tax-exempt designation in this state, I know that tax-exempt means a not-for-profit organization.

When you find the regulation, please let me know where you found it so that we can start on the same page.

In the meantime, can we talk about why

Immigration involvement is only, please remember, in those cases wherein the patient is undocumented. Even legal immigrants are being repatriated, if they have no insurance. Why don't they have insurance? Could it be that they earn too much to qualify for Medicade but not enough to pay insurance premiums?

Medicare cut reimbursement rates for hospitals and nursing homes also...

The Bush administration has repeatedly increased Medicare premiums and deductibles while simultaneously cutting the reimbursement rates those premiums are supposed to cover. He is using Medicare money to pay for his war.

I am so sick of this. We are losing ERs now! Within the past 8 years, three near me have shut down. And we're losing more than hospitals; we are losing nursing homes too, just as our population is aging.

And no, Liz, they were not overcrowded with illegal aliens. It is VERY easy to "google" The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). I encourage you to do so...

Who was president when deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill occured, thereby turning thousands out into the street? It happened in the mid-fifties, so it was probably Eisenhower, a Rep.

The EMTALA has only to do with emergency care, CG, and what's happening now has much more to do with long term care. Let's see what Law can come up with to refute the claims made by the New York Times. If he comes up with nothing, it'll be because he can't, and, if he's pressed, he'll say it's because what I've posted isn't important enough for him to bother with. *sigh*

Not at all, Liz. I was merely pointing out that you are so frequently "in error" that one must take what you say here with a grain of salt. You also like to post things and then claim you were just repeating what the New York Times or whatever wrote...As if everything in the paper or on the net or on TV is the unstinting truth. I do not need to refute the New York Times...YOU are the one who parroted their claim...can YOU support it? I do not think think so.

I will repeat my question. What "point" are you try to make, Liz?

The Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act(EMTALA), also known as COBRA or the Patient Anti-Dumping Law.

According to "State Legislatures Magazine" in an article from 2007:


I guess this is another example of the unintended consequences thing. We let the mentally ill out of institutions out of some sort of altruistic urges, then whine about how many of the recently de-institutionalized end up on the streets and/or eventually re-institutionalized, but in prison.

http://204.131.235.67/magazine/articles/2007/07SLApr07_Criminals.htm

Reagan began deinstituionalizing the mentally ill patients in Cali in the 60s. It's popularity caught on...becoming national and even international. Reagan was part of the Richmond Report era. This filtered down to Australia. The premise was to close all institutions etc and "integrate". I could debate this with you endlessly.

Nothing wrong with the mentally ill being institutionalized. We need to stop kidding ourselves that people like them are normal, they're not and why should they be? "The least restrictive environment" is what it's really all about. I'm sure you've heard of this.