This philosophy of collective responsibility culminated in laws such as the EmergencyMedicalTreatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), and programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which render economic calculations in healthcare provision virtually illegal and healthcare a right despite the fact that if healthcare is a right, it requires the violation of the rights of others who are forced to provide it.
Of course, Republicans agree, women should have direct access to a gynaecologist or obstetrician (instead of having to see a primary-care doctor first), and of course patients should have guaranteed access to emergency-room treatment and the right to know all the medical options and appeal against an insurer's decision.
Last night LAS and St John Ambulance staff ran 13 treatment centres in central London and 50 paramedics and emergency medics responded on foot carrying medical equipment in backpacks.