[ExI] Why is “cost of living” such a big problem?

[John Clark]

On 07/11/2026 15:29, spike wrote:


>
> * > the poor in the USA have access to health care.  If they are
> impoverished, they can go to the ER and get treated.  They do.*


*It is emergency care only, not comprehensive healthcare, emergency rooms
do NOT treat non-emergency issues like having cancer, or chronic conditions
like high blood pressure, or diabetes, or respiratory diseases such as
asthma and emphysema, or having a bad heart and needing surgery for it, or
having bad kidneys and needing a transplant. An emergency room will
stabilize a patient but that's all.*

*And emergency room treatment is **NOT free. The hospital will bill the
patient afterward and that bill can be ENORMOUS. At one time low-income
people could get a little help with that from Medicaid, but Donald and his
brainless MAGA minions have been doing their best to stamp that out. **Because
of this, poor people delay care even under emergency conditions. In the USA
the average cost of just the ambulance trip to the hospital is $2086. The
USA is the richest country in the world, and this is a fucking disgrace!!*

*John K Clark*
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