If Ashcroft Were Uninsured...
12 March 2004, Dan Frosch, AlterNet


From the moment Attorney General John Ashcroft was diagnosed with gallstone pancreatitis on March 4, he has without a doubt received the best and most efficient medical care in the world.

While Justice Department officials haven't released many details, the Attorney General, because of his status, was most likely whisked through the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital, into intensive care and then surgery, and has all the while been doted on by a team of concerned and caring medical experts.

Ashcroft has little reason to worry about the charges he's incurring. Like virtually all civilian federal employees, Ashcroft is presumably covered by any one of the impressive health plans offered by the United States Office of Personnel Management. The most popular plan, Blue Cross/ Blue Shield 'Standard,' could conceivably pay for close to 90 percent of Ashcroft's hospital care.

But what if John Ashcroft was never confirmed as Attorney General and didn't have that impressive federal health plan? According to the Chicago-based group, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), 41 million Americans don't have any health insurance and the majority of them, the group says, aren't necessarily unemployed.

So, what would have happened if John Ashcroft was not Attorney General, didn't have health insurance and got sick?

What would happen, hypothetically, is this: