[Crisis in the American health care system]

According to Federal US law it is forbidden to reject patients or to curtail their care. The law may be seen as a democratic expression of the American people's wish to give all citizens access to the country's health services. Nevertheless it is estimated that millions of people in the USA wholly lack health insurance and very few of them succeed in paying their hospital bills. The problems of collection are so great that hospitals frequently refrain from even making the attempt. The law has a paradoxical effect; the health services are impoverished since no resources are set aside to cover the rising costs.