St. Louis hospitals give uninsured discounts

That is not anything to gloat about.
I wish the hospital would charge 25% less than the lowest contracted rate (example Medicaid) to the really deserving. Before you start praising these hospitals for their magnanimity, look at the numbers for a procedure like colonoscopy.
Hospital facility charge $350-1500
ASC facility fee: $250-750
Office based endoscopy unit facility fee: $110-350.
( the lower number is the Medicare rate paid as facility fee. Medicaid pays NO facility fee for office-based procedures!).

This is not anywhere near the solution to medical costs. The answer is viable, affordable and comprehensive health insurance for all.
Can this country afford such universal health coverage? The question should be, can the country NOT afford universal health insurance?
The approach can be a mixture of private and government-funded insurance, or all government. Something needs to be done, however.
Hillary Clinton is the only serious candidate at this stage who has any kind of meaningful proposal for such coverage on the table. (disclaimer: I did not vote for Bill Clinton either time he ran).
Obama's plan is just a rehash of various state programs for the low-income poor and uninsured. It does nothing to address the needs of the working middle class.
McCain's plan is pretty much a rehash of the latest proposals from the commercial insurers which are designed to protect the mega-profits of the private insurers. Its a step up from the Bush administration's current health plan, known in the industry as the 'Don't Get Sick' health plan, but it will just direct billions of taxpayer dollars from healthcare into the cash bonuses of the private health insurers' executives.
We are at a crucial time in our history, where we will either move forward on Healthcare insurance reform, or just go forward with sound-bites and band-aid approaches such as the one in this news article.
Howard
howard08817@aol.com

This will probably increase BJC hospital's patient share in the metro upto about 37 %