Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for September 24, 2009

Get ‘em, Daisy!

how many sons have been embarassed by our mothers? too many to count, and it won’t ever end. you just have to love them, anyway.

I’m agreeing with GEE. The Republican wingnuts have been screeching insults for a generation now. They dish it out every step of the way, but funny … they get really hot under the collar when they have to take it. Boo freaking hoo.

At least the frightened old people wouldn’t be the ones paying for ObamaCare. That bill goes to the younger generations.

Living in Canada now ( we are US citizens, born there &, lived there over 50 years…) gives us a different perspective on all this. If people in the USofA would go to a hospital that does not have waterfalls, music, private suites etc and be happy for good basic care in wards of 4 to 8 (coed) things wouldn’t cost as much, and the total governmant cost would be a lot less than now. But all the ambiance of a two star (or higher) hotel seems to be the “basic” you want there. And lets not get into litigation over any little thing that is less than perfection. I worked in healthcare in the USofA so I know first hand how people with no insurance can end up costing taxpayers more in the long term as they don’t get care until they end up so sick they are months in ICU! (which is where I worked)

Do the frightened geezers outnumber minorities as a voting block?

Hey, over at Dilbert.com, someone told me of a page with just the comic, and no reader comments. Does something like that exist for Doonesbury? http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-06-08/

try doonesbury.com

BobMcK, cool down. In those countries with free BASIC health care, private rooms in private hospitals are still readily available, but if you want it you (or your private health insurance policy) will need to pay for it. Oh yeah, those places also still have private health insurance, if you want something over and above the basic care the government provides for everyone.

If you don’t like sharing a room in a hospital, how does going bankrupt sound? As damned Americans, this is where we are headed. I am far more afraid of losing everything thanks to enormous medical bills. As ridiculous as our costs are now they are set to double in the next ten years. Most of the docs have now accepted that we need to completely change our current system. There are some older people who are afraid and some wingnuts in the GOP and of course, insurance executives. The rest of us, including the majority of docs, are ready for basic and huge systemic change in health care. Huge medical bills are a major source of bankruptcy in this country. you want the status quo? Good luck!

ionFreeman said, about 3 hours ago Hey, over at Dilbert.com, someone told me of a page with just the comic, and no reader comments. Does something like that exist for Doonesbury? —– Dude, drop the ten bucks or whatever it costs and pay for it. You’ll get all the comics on one page, no comments. Or just ignore them if they bother you.

“Is this thing on?”

Who expected such age-ism from a 61-year-old cartoonist?

As for open hospital wards, they disappeared in the U.S. decades ago when Medicare announced it would only pay for semi-private rooms. Just one way out of many that existing government involvement in healthcare drove up costs which are now the excuse for more government intrusion.

Did anyone watch Courtney Cox’s new show, The Cougar last night? Now that is an embarrased son! LOL

Who said we were 17th in health care effectiveness? The WHO, World Health Organization, said we were 37th. Look it up. Also, check out We’re #37 by Paul Hipp on youtube.

Daisy doesn’t strike me as Republican or necessarily right wing. I think she is scared and angry and doesn’t know enough about the way things work to know where to productively direct her fear and anger. The fact that such anger is stoked by right wingers is reprehensible, but they’re the ones who should take he heat, not seniors.

Does WHO know what it’s talking about? What are the criteria for its health care rating system?

As a Canadian, I must say, everyone I know is sitting here shaking our heads and laughing. This is not a third world country (although we have less of a feeling of entitlement as typified by the hospital bed debate). But I will say that I can see my family doctor, be admitted into emergency, get flu vaccines any time I want. I am treated in clean, comfortable facilities by polite, medical professionals and guess how much it costs me? NOTHING. As a family member said, while undergoing chemotherapy, I am glad I live in a country where guns are not a right, but health care is. As for the country going broke Canada’s economy is not nearly as deep in recession as the USA’s.

tgk, The reason that you have so many family that loves Canadian health care is that we have most of your fellow citizens down here in Arizona getting care they can’t get in Canada. Sorry, been there and done that. Lived in Australia, Singapore, UK and the Netherlands, while working a lot in Germany and Canada. I’ll take Dutch care any day, and like the Deutsch private insurance care. There’s no way I would ever try to live under the UK or Canadian health care systems!

I am glad to be living in a country where everyone gets health care whether they can afford it or not, and where I can get state of the art care because I can.