We all pay, one way or another, for health care

Michael Beavers (letter May 14) tells us that workers don’t want their hard-earned money used to provide health care for others who can’t pay.

Health care in our country is truly complicated, but we can extract a few simple facts:

▪ Hospital emergency rooms provide medical care to all, whether or not they can pay.

▪ Hospitals shift those costs to people with insurance coverage, which raises their premiums. Mr. Beavers ought to realize that, under Obamacare or any replacement, we all pay for others who can’t pay.

▪ Health care is, on average, cheaper for people who make regular doctor visits (primary care) than for people who wait until they need far more expensive emergency treatment. We’ll all spend less on health care if we provide primary care (like Medicaid) for those who can’t pay.

For practically everything in life, I’ve always believed: “If you can’t pay for it, you can’t have it.” However good it sounds, that principle simply doesn’t work when it comes to health care.

This story was originally published May 20, 2017 at 3:56 PM with the headline "We all pay, one way or another, for health care."