4 Out Of 10 Americans Delaying Medical Care Over Costs

Specifically:

• In 2022, 38 percent of all Americans said that they or someone in their family put off seeking medical care or treatment because they couldn’t afford it. If you’re in a room with three random fellow Muricans, one of you will not be able to afford care.
• The percentage rose by 12 percent over 2021.
• Gallup started asking this question in 2001, and 38% is the all-time high since then.
• But just wait ’til 2023!

The article in the video goes on to state that some fraction of that 4 in 10, here in the greatest country in the world, have some form of “health insurance”.

But insurance isn’t health care.

Since 1948, health care is supposed to be a universal human right, and is in fact recognized as such by most of the world’s governments. Including the government in bad, bad Russia, for Chrissake.

In fact, The U.S. stands almost entirely alone among developed nations that lack universal health care.

If we had had that human right during the pandemic, 335,000 American lives would have been saved. But please, do go on and get worked up over a drop in the bucket like 9-11.

There was only one bit of health care that was ‘free’ the whole time, and that was The Jab. Gosh I wonder why that might be? I wonder how much Pfizer stock was held by DC elites, the whole time, too …

We live in the heart of Empire. It’s a seriously fucked-up place, and that will continue to be true no matter which half of the Uniparty takes control of the House, or the Senate, or the Presidency. People used to sound credible, claiming that the Dems were at least a little bit better, sometimes, right? Surely better than the evil Donald, at a minimum!

I, for one, now dissent from that homily.

100 billion for the money-laundering op in Ukraine? No problem, baby. A trillion a year to the Pentagon? Ohhhh yeah. Crash right through that debt ceiling one more time!

Caring about homelessness, or health care, or the income inequality gap yawning wider every day?

Fuck off, you god damn peasant. Who, and where, do you think you are?

***

Kshama Sawant will not seek re-election to the Seattle City Council.

This is very bad news for people living in Seattle, but maybe a win for the rest of us.

“During her campaign, Sawant said that, if elected, she would donate the portion of her salary as a City Council member that exceeded the average salary in Seattle. On January 27, 2014, she announced that she would live on $40,000 of her $117,000 salary. She places the rest into a political fund that she uses for social justice campaigns. As of September 19, 2021, she cited her current city-allotted salary as $140,000, while she continues to take home $40,000 of that amount.”

Just try to imagine a Nancy Pelosi or even an AOC doing the same. You’ll hurt your head if you do.

“On January 19, 2023, Sawant announced that she would retire from the city council at the end of the year, instead announcing that she would be launching Workers Strike Back, a national labor movement.”

Needless to say, the link is obligatory: https://www.workersstrikeback.org

Anarcho-syndicalism now.

***

I used to really admire Greta Thunberg.

But like Michelle Shocked, and Aung San Suu Kyi before her, she’s gone, headed up around some bend in some river of life or mind that is tragic. Tragic in the lost way, tragic in the evil way … it’s not clear. But she’s gone and she ain’t coming back.

For now I’m going to just admire Rebel News instead. Those are the guys trying to interview her. At Davos, of all godforsaken places.

For now. I’ll admire them. But even them I won’t trust to be solid and cool and right forever.

Kyle Kulinski … David Doel … Alexandria and Bernie too.

I hardly knew ye. Or me.

We’re all headed around the same bend eventually. Laughing as we drown or fry. We are the babies of Hiroshima.