I don't see what EMTALA has to deal with homelessness in this context. It largely comes down to uninsured, even post-ACA. If we can't afford the current system, it's not a matter of if, but when, either hospitals or providers leave medicare. To put it in perspective, the AMA reports (https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/medicare-medica...) that physician medicare compensation has declined 29% since 2001. At a certain point, it will simply be financially unsustainable. Whataboutism to distract from the fact that medicare alone is 3.7% of gdp and is forecast to grow to 5.1% by 2033 (https://www.cato.org/blog/fast-facts-about-medicare-social-s...) doesn't fix anything.
And FWIW, US Medicare spending alone is shaping up to grow to almost as much as some EU nations on a % of GDP basis (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...).). Medicare isn't the solution. It's the problem.
> If we can't afford the current system,
What we can and cannot afford is a choice, not some immutable fact of nature.
A cynical, if realist, version of this would be: if we choose to not spend any more ...
But that's still better since it acknowledges that we, as a nation, have agency in this.
https://www.bea.gov/news/2023/gross-domestic-product-fourth-...
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10830
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis puts the 2022 GDP at $25.46 trillion ($25,460 billion). Congress puts 2022 spending on private health insurance at $1,290 billion (5%) and Medicare at $944 billion (3.7% of GDP).