How a city works...

[Lamplighter]

Dwellars should read the entire article.
Below are the entire paragraphs of Classic's quotes...

In a continuing study, an all-star group of researchers
following Ms. Parris and tens of thousands of other Oregonians has found
that gaining insurance makes people feel healthier, happier and more financially stable.
The insured also spend more on health care, dashing some hopes of preventive-medicine advocates
who have argued that coverage can save money — by keeping people out of emergency rooms, for instance.
In Oregon, the newly insured spent an average of $778 a year, or 25 percent, more on health care than those
who did not win insurance.

“The study put to rest two incorrect arguments
that persisted because of an absence of evidence,”said Katherine Baicker,
a Harvard economist who worked on the study and served as an economic adviser to President George W. Bush.
“The first is that Medicaid doesn’t do anything for people, because it’s bad insurance or
because the uninsured have other ways of getting care,” Ms. Baicker said. “The second is that
Medicaid coverage saves money” by increasing preventive care, for instance.
“It’s up to society to determine whether it’s worth the cost,” she added.

If you are an economist, $ is unfortunately your only unit of measure.
To say that the uninsured have other ways of getting care is discussed in this same article...

Most of the uninsured described their lack of coverage as a profound problem.
<snip>
Interviews with study participants showed that the insured and the uninsured
got health care in significantly different ways. Lottery winners tended to have
a primary care physician who saw them regularly and helped them navigate the health care system.
In contrast, few of the uninsured saw doctors regularly, and none said that they had regular health examinations.
<snip>
The uninsured described borrowing medication from family members and friends,
taking it every other day, and asking doctors to diagnose multiple conditions
and write multiple prescriptions on a single visit.

The insured said they had largely abandoned such strategies.

Certainly, health care costs more than no health care at all. But better health,
being happier, and financial stability are just some of the basic outcomes of health care
... regardless of how it is financed.