Health care for the uninsured got easier this week, but it still has a long way to go.

According to June Gibbs Brown, Health and Human Services Department inspector general, federal officials will use a 12-year-old law to keep hospitals from refusing treatment to emergency room patients based on health insurance.

The 1986 law, according to an Associated Press article, was intended to protect those without insurance, but there have been numerous infractions since then.

Now, federal officials will enforce the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which could cost hospitals up to $50,000 per “patient dumping” incident.

This rule is good news for people who can’t afford health care but need emergency medical treatment. But another ruling could be even better news.

The Supreme Court will hear a $10 million lawsuit today filed by a woman who was allegedly “dumped” by a hospital.

Wanda Johnson was hit by a truck six years ago and was taken to the University of Louisville hospital. However, according to the lawsuit, she was “dumped” by the hospital because she was uninsured, and the bill was too high.

Johnson is now brain-damaged and partially paralyzed, which, according to the lawsuit filed on her behalf by her aunt, was the result of her transfer from the Louisville hospital while she was still in fragile condition.

The court will decide whether hospitals can be held liable after denying emergency medical care. If the court finds in favor of Johnson, emergency rooms all over the country will have even more reason to give treatment to anyone who needs it — definitely good news for the uninsured.

These two cases are steps in the right direction — steps to giving all Americans the basic right of emergency health care. But these steps shouldn’t stop here.

Each time national health care or national health insurance has been proposed in the last century, it has been soundly shouted down by people afraid of associating with socialism.

But a national health insurance system, which would provide very basic coverage for every American, isn’t something to be feared. It would ensure that patients like Wanda Johnson get emergency treatment right away. It would help everyone.

We’ve taken a few steps toward fair health care. Now let’s take another and reopen the national health care debate.