The tragedy of the mass killing in Aurora, Colorado is undeniable.  The event also provides us with a lesson about the fragility of financial resources and the need for insurance, even when it is painful to make the premium payments.  Due to the shooter choosing to commit his crime at a midnight showing of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises,” many of the attendees and shooting victims were adults between the ages of 18 to 34.  The government states that the highest segment of uninsured Americans are among that particular age group.  Furthermore, a 2011 report by the Colorado Trust indicates one-third of Coloradans do not have health insurance.

The victims were all brought into the hospitals through the emergency room as they were gunshot victims.  Federal law requires hospitals to provide care to all “emergency room” patients regardless of ability to pay.  The goal of this care is stabilization.  So, many of these victims are looking at hospital bills in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Already three of the five hospitals that admitted victims will reduce the fee to an amount the patient can afford.  In some of the cases that is $0.  As a result, we the taxpayers are picking up the expense through our taxes that support these same hospitals (mostly Medicare payments).  There is no free ride and the hospitals’ generosity reflects the fact that they can simply pass a good chunk of the costs to us because federal law prohibits them from forcing these victims to pay more!

Our health care system currently creates universal coverage for those in emergency situations; it just does not require them to pay for it.  You and I fund the poor choices of those who decide not to have health insurance and then need catastrophic care!  Somehow, that gaming of the system seems terribly wrong.

So, as we look at the universal health care coverage debate, let’s remember that the worst outcome for all is when younger people have no health insurance and then they have an emergency that requires taxpayers to pay for the coverage.  And, as we see in the above stated tragedy that is exactly what happens when people make the wrong choice and cannot or choose not to pay for health insurance.