Recently, I ran into this video on Youtube by John Oliver, and thought it was pretty good.
Here, he explore healthcare, which is such a divisive issue today in the United States. There are some huge, glaringly obvious failures with the American system, yet because of a deadly combination of national arrogance mixed with genuine ignorance and a disinformation campaign, not to mention the huge amounts of money being put into that disinformation campaign, we keep seeing any seriously meaningful attempts at positive changes defeated, and viewed as a threat to the American way of life and democracy itself, even though many of those who apparently believe in this also support Trump, who has been horrific to American democracy.
This video is both informative and humorous, and thus very entertaining. I do not always agree with everything that Oliver has to say, although he seems pretty much on point on this issue in this video. Please take a look at it!
At 2:20, Oliver recites some of the specific facts that, to me, have always served as glaring examples of how this "for profit" healthcare system in the United States fails the very people that it claims to serve. Many Americans who champion this system quickly and boldly declare it to be the greatest healthcare system in the entire world. And Oliver concedes the point that it very well may be the best healthcare system in the world... for the rich and famous.
Here, he explore healthcare, which is such a divisive issue today in the United States. There are some huge, glaringly obvious failures with the American system, yet because of a deadly combination of national arrogance mixed with genuine ignorance and a disinformation campaign, not to mention the huge amounts of money being put into that disinformation campaign, we keep seeing any seriously meaningful attempts at positive changes defeated, and viewed as a threat to the American way of life and democracy itself, even though many of those who apparently believe in this also support Trump, who has been horrific to American democracy.
This video is both informative and humorous, and thus very entertaining. I do not always agree with everything that Oliver has to say, although he seems pretty much on point on this issue in this video. Please take a look at it!
At 2:20, Oliver recites some of the specific facts that, to me, have always served as glaring examples of how this "for profit" healthcare system in the United States fails the very people that it claims to serve. Many Americans who champion this system quickly and boldly declare it to be the greatest healthcare system in the entire world. And Oliver concedes the point that it very well may be the best healthcare system in the world... for the rich and famous.
For the rest of us, however, it is a system that fails, and far more spectaculalry, at that, than any other healthcare system in the world. Again, we are the only industrialized country in the entire world that has this "for profit" healthcare system, and Oliver points out the reasons why. There are 27.5 million without health insurance (presumably, a majority of them cannot afford healthcare), and in addition to this, there are 43.8 million underinsured "people with high deductibles and copays that could end up bleeding them dry," as Oliver aptly points out.
That is how the American healthcare system has been failing Americans, and it has been doing that for many decades now. In other countries, they celebrate their healthcare systems. Oliver shows us how in Britain and Canada, people actually celebrate their healthcare system, because it works well for people. When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper began to propose scrapping the healthcare system there in favor of a model closer to the privatized, "for profit" system that existed (and still exists) here in the United States, there was such an uproar, that it never had a chance of passing.
Medicare for All: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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