The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn for June 17, 2022

I guess it pays to hibernate!

He kind of reminds me of Grumpy Bear.

The secrets of single payer healthcare. Somebody has to pay the bill.

He pretty well has the numbers down right!!

Is this really how bad it is America?. I live in Ireland and I have a Medical Card which entitles me to free health care. All I have to pay for is €1.50 for each of the different tablets I get each month which usually is no more than €10.00.

Buh… Buh… Buh… Who will think of the Big Pharma, HMO, and insurance companies CEO’s and stockholders? And also all of the ReThuglicans senators who are so very deep in their pockets and are continuously obstructing any and all measures to provide all Americans the healthcare that is their right and that every other developed and even most undeveloped nations have for their citizens?

so is this bear acking obama ?

Every 6 months they raise my rates for the supplement …….there’s no end to gouging….every year Medicare goes up a lot….gouged again….COL doesn’t even begin to cover the raised rates….yet, foreign countries get billions of aid,leaving We the PEOPLE screwed!

If companies would stop bribing congress, maybe something could be done about the problems in this country!

Hope Tenderheart Bear has a budget!

Everyone should just work for free.

The Affordable Care Act at its best.

But the insurance company’s CEO’s wife needs a new Bentley and my Doctor only has three vacation houses!

My asthma inhaler is $380 here, in Mexico it’s $26. Now that I’m on medicare it costs me $45.

Bad time to shop for insurance. It’s a bear market.

A friend in Spain needed to be treated in hospital for weeks when in America he’d be released as soon as possible. His doctor told him that he is very happy as a Doc in Spain because he gets to treat his patients as needed not as the dollar dictates.

Single payer is the only way to go — we need to join Europe and the rest of the civilized world in how we administer health care

For some in the USA, it would be that bad, and those people would not be able to pay those amounts at all. The USA doesn’t really have health care, it has sick care in the first place, and providing any care at all is extremely uneven and prejudiced toward wealthier folks.

Nothing in life is free, especially if it can be taxed. Once the government gets involved then prices are driven up and up. Insurance itself will drive up costs to make profits and pay their employees etc. Government is never looking to be efficient and affordable. They want to buy votes and help their pensions and wealth.

If you are poor you die, republiguns hate socialism.

USA medical insurance is a joke. If you are over 65 you have Medicare, but it only covers something like 80%. Then you MUST get supplemental insurance to cover the balance. But wait there is more. Prescriptions are yet another insurance with HUGE deductibles and co pays. Dental insurance is yet another insurance that few can afford. And lastly is vision which is another unaffordable insurance. Between my wife daughter and I, we deal with ELEVEN different insurance companies. We spend about 20 hours a week fighting with them. Our pharmacist and doctor are another few. One needed prescription what’s going to cost $68,000 a year, because suddenly, it’s not covered. We got a three-month supply from Canada for $200. (Why 340 times more for the same drug?) Then suddenly, it’s fully covered again. That is just one example of the daily struggles we go through. So far, we’ve won most of them. When I retired, I wasn’t looking for a part time job! I spent about a third of my income last year on things not covered by insurance and deductibles. Thank the Lord I was able to do so, many can’t. Those under 65 that don’t have employer insurance or are on welfare are just screwed

USA: Land of Gun Care and Health Control

I quibble with the phrase “health-care system”. It’s misleading. In the 1st place, it’s not a system. A system is something that’s designed to achieve a particular end, in a coordinated way, usually as efficiently as possible. (Think computers or automobiles.) In the 2nd place, it’s not about care, it’s about capitalism.

What we have in lieu of a true health-care system (you know, the kind that every other industrialized democracy on the planet has and loves) is a haphazard scattering of profit centers concentrated in areas where the money is, with vast swaths of the nation under- or un-served. By contrast, the US Postal Service and the public schools are true systems that serve every square centimetre of the country. (And yes, the metric system too is a true system, well and intentionally designed, not like ACHU, the Accidental Collection of Heterogeneous Units that the US alone in the world still clings to.)

So I recommend using the phrase “health-insurance industry”, because it’s more accurate.

YES

Not really, not if you have Obamacare, there is very little they can deny. If you were suckered into those cheap useless plans under trump, I am sorry.