The stars on our flag will be replaced by maple leaves!

You're tops Tom, that was hilarious.

It doesn't matter what health care system we have, single payer, multiple payer, public, private, whatever, there's going to need to be SOMEBODY in ANY system whose job it is to say "no, we're not paying for that - the bang for the buck just isn't there."

Now, we can discuss whether we're better off having that decision made by individual insurance companies or by government, but the decision has to be made, and denying that it has to be made is just folly.

Excellent piece on this by Peter Singer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19healthcare-t.html

The same millionaires everything in our society is set up to benefit. And why do conservatives have to turn EVERYTHING into a fight over abortion? They had complete unchecked control of the government for six years! If they were truly serious about getting rid of abortion, they would have done it then.

I always throw that back in the face of neo-fascists who say they don't want their tax dollars supporting things they don't believe in, like legal abortion, birth control, the arts, public education, etc.

I just wish more of my fellow liberals would follow Sparky's example. Use one of the Rethuglicans' greatest weapons! Talk about issues in terms of what the government is doing with your tax dollars! Expose them for the hypocrites they are.

Sadly, most liberals are too wimpy for any kind of fight, or even any real confrontation.

Has anyone gone through the trouble of doing the math and taking one of the multifarious modern healthcare systems around the Western world, plugged in the U.S. numbers, and seen how much it would cost us to say, take Britain's healthcare system hook, line, and sinker? What would we really have to pay if we just replicated another country's system? Are we afraid to find out? And if someone has done this kind of a study, why isn't it out there front and center in the debate?

you are such a two bit comic. Your gags are so predictable it's like reading the news or watching TV. I don't laugh anymore at your satire.

Yawn.

B.

I wanna abort the republicans.

Tom, your statement here is totally true. Sadly, you've made similar points in cartoons you did back in the early 1990's. As usual, you are spot on.

It is a tragedy that America's current health care system, in which people are denied important medical procedures, is coupled with the fact that there is a powerful propaganda campaign to retain the screwed-up system. Frankly, the truth of your cartoon makes it hard for me to laugh, but maybe that's just me.

P.S. Best of luck with sales of your upcoming book, "The Very Silly Mayor".

Everybody loses! Classic.

God if you could just explode heads by looking at someone, I'd watch TV every night.

What's the difference between HMO/insurance company accountants making the decisions and a bureaucrat?

cestmoi, you're right, someone has to make that decision. Now, if they are your only two choices, would you rather a life-or-death decision be made by someone driven by the profit motive (in which your healthcare is going to cost them some of their profits), or someone driven by the re-election motive (in which saving someone's life can look really attractive)?

And yet you couldn't get over here fast enough on Monday to read it when it's Tuesday's comic.

You have no life.

Yawn.

The one good thing about the bullshit abortion distraction is that it probably woke a lot of women up to the fact that abortion is often covered by private insurance. I'll bet a ton of women pay out of pocket when they don't have to, because they assume outright that no insurer would cover it. Of course, from a strictly bottom line perspective, abortion is a lot cheaper than childbirth.

by military subcontractors; see Blackwater, Halliburton, et al...

Exactly WHO ARE the people who are enamored with their current health "care" program? I can't think of A SINGLE ONE. Everyone I know has horror stories about the run-around the insurance companies give them at every turn. Christ, it's getting to the point where you need prior authorization to clip your damn toenails anymore.

And that's for those of us who are "lucky" enough to HAVE insurance IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Quite honestly- this is a make or break deal for me in regard to my opinion of our President. I busted my ass to get him elected, and so far the change has been paltry at best. Obama needs to grow a fucking spine already and get to work making REAL reform- not just milquetoast half measures and sell outs. Our health "care" industry is a costly and deadly catastrophe. It has to change.

This is a opportunity of a lifetime- no joke. If we don't fix this now, we'll be stuck with shitty, third world care for another generation. That is unacceptable.

The difference is obvious ...... the bureacrat is salaried and thus has no incentive/bias to deny or give you coverage ...... therefore, their decision can be based on facts, research and outcome studies ....

An insurance clerk is merely following the policies/orders of management who is only interested in profits ...... its a business.

If you had cancer and your only possible option was a bone-marrow transplant, who would you want making the decision ...... a bureacrat actually interested in facts or an insurance company clerk whose boss was looking to purchase his 6th sports car for the year.

I'm with you.

He better get his ass in gear

Cos I'm not gonna wait

Another 20 fuckin' years

For years the Republicans have had fringe wackos like former Oklahoma representative Steve Largent proposing fringe wacko ideas, so that when the mainstream Republicans offer alternatives that are merely reprehensible, they seem moderate and reasonable in comparison.

Obama (or some surrogate) should have asked for the whole enchilada from the beginning: Dissolution of all private insurance companies, single payer coverage for every citizen and legal immigrant, and an end to the criminal greed by the pharmaceutical companies. That way, when the inevitable compromises come, we would still end up with something worth having.

Instead, they started from a compromise position, so that when they are forced to back off, we are left with something that isn't any better than what we had. (Of course, assuming that we get anything at all.)