At one time the United States offered free health care

[liberal N proud]

And it was offered to imigrants...

Ellis Island Hospital, New York Harbor

Fearing danger to the public health, immigrants with contagious diseases were excluded from entry into the United States. As a result, a hospital was needed on Ellis Island to treat the immigrants and protect the public health, and it opened in 1902. The contagious disease hospital was built with 18 wards for specific diseases, and it also included a psychiatric hospital. Eventually the hospital would grow to include 22 buildings on Ellis Island.

The Ellis Island Hospital handled all diseases, including measles, mumps, diphtheria, and whooping cough. The hospital also had its own state-of-the-art laboratory, critical at the time to identify cases such as pulmonary tuberculosis. Indeed, the hospital reported only one employee death due to infection with contagious disease (tuberculosis) while working with the immigrants.

http://hospitalstay.com/2010/12/lost-hospital-ellis-island-hospital-new-york-harbor/


But then GREED set in.

[handmade34]

1. still do

in jails

[Cleita]

2. Many municipalities offered free health care to the

poor and indigent when I was growing up. However, the need got so great that the mostly County hospitals and some Catholic hospitals who offered it couldn't handle the need anymore, which is why we got medicaid to help out but it still isn't adequate. This is why we need single payer universal health care, where everyone contributes and everyone is able to participate when they need it.