That's it! We have to start someplace and the first step

would be to establish special funds for inner cities hospitals like LA MLK-Harbor, where a woman died while in the ER waiting for someone to help her

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2879197

The City of LA and LA County have some of the richest people in the country. Of course they do not go to MLK-Harbor if they are sick. But they need to be aware that such a sub standard treatment in their community is hurting them.

So levy special taxes on the LA residents making more than - let's be generous - $500,000 a year. Gross, before all the loopholes.

And put everyone at MLK-Harbor on salaries. Decent salaries for doctors, nurses, medical technicians, orderly, janitors, therapists - everybody! Keep the insurance companies off. Chances are, most patients don't have any insurance. Get the public to pay for everything and - sigh - do have a few auditors to make sure that only sick people go there and that no one is siphoning public funds for other entrepreneurial jobs..

(edited for coherence... I am steamed..)

'Course it would piss Harry & Louise off.

instead of a major overhaul that - let's be honest - most Americans who are currently covered by their employer would reject.

They should stop & think--what if something serious enough happens to them that they're out of work long enough to lose their job?

I used to mention universal coverage and people would first bristle at putting the "government" in charge of their health care.

But with further digging, each would have a story about a friend or a relative who cannot get coverage for "pre-existing" conditions.

Even many Republicans who supported Kerry in 2004 because of his support of stem-cell research. Why? Because they or someone they knew could benefit.

This, of course, is the major difference between liberals and conservatives. The latter think only of themselves and change their opinion when they personally are affected. We think beyond our immediate circle of family and friends.

Idiocy is permanent. Ignorance is curable. And curing that ignorance is the real first step.