No Public Hospitals = Unhealthy America

The main difference between public and private hospitals is that the first is funded by the government and the latter is funded by either a single person or group. Private hospitals tend to offer better facilities and are, therefore, more expensive. Because of this, the uninsured and the poor usually go to public hospitals since they can't really afford private hospitals. The emergency departments of these hospitals are becoming way too overcrowded because the uninsured and poor know this is the cheapest option for them. People are coming to the ER for reasons they definitely do not classify as an emergency. Today while I was volunteering in the ER, probably only 1 out of every 15 patients were actually considered emergencies. The rest of the patients were just coming in for back pain, coughs, stomach aches, etc. This means that if these public hospitals keep closing, these emergency department patients will most likely not get the care they need because it's too expensive for them. This will cause an increase in obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health care problems that have already been on a rise. Unless there's another way to help out these poor and uninsured people, the health of the nation will just continue to decline.