Who comes up with these weeks, anyhow?
A grand jury in Manhattan has indicted Der Furor, making him the nation's first twice-impeached and criminally-indicted former president; actress Gwynneth Paltrow was cleared of fault in a 2016 skiing accident and awarded $1 in damages; the Vatican has repudiated papal decrees from nearly 500 years ago which were used to justify European colonial conquests and destroy the culture and livelihood of Indigenous people; in an act of blatant extortion, Russian authorities arrested New York Times reporter Evan Gershkovich on charges of spying; and a Ukrainian cyber warfare group published a trove of information about the officers of a Russian military unit, including a calendar of photos of the unit wives wearing little more than their husbands' uniform jackets ... they had been tricked into believing that they were supporting a morale-building operation for their deployed husbands.
In honor of my expectation of all the bills for my knee replacement starting to trickle in, this week we feature a collection of cartoons about the horror of paying for American medical care ... it's world class, as long as you bring money. Don't bother counting it, just weigh it ...
There are all sorts of tests that need to be run to identify potential problems with your care ...
Of course, you could always just go with the old "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," but with the cost of apples at the moment, you may not be all that much better off.
It doesn't always pay to go with the low bidder on your health ...
There's an art to prioritizing the drainage of potentially dangerous swellings ...
If the GOP finally manages to come up with a health care plan, it will probably look much like this ...
It's a valid question, and the first one to ask after determining what your insurance will cover and what the co-pays are ...
This one is pretty close to reality ...
Whatever works ...
I did this Bayeux tapestry picture* after having to sit through the 87,962,591st TV ad for Medicare Advantage plans ...
I think this is the same plan I have ...
This will probably be a major feature of whatever Obamacare replacement the GOP finally agrees on ...
Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Poetry Sunday returns.
Bilbo
* You can make your own here!
I heard you could get arrested for throwing apples at doctors.
ReplyDeleteGood comics this week.
ReplyDeleteI wish you well on your surgery recovery and great sympathy for your bank account. I had both knees replaced 20 years ago (at an unusually young age), and while I've never been a fan of HMO's, I was ecstatically relieved to be covered by one when I started receiving the bills. The only it didn't cover was $400-ish for the anesthesiologist.
Heal well and quickly, Bilbo!
Love the Part C ad you made but "organ of equal or lesser value" is my favorite. Thanks for the laughs!
ReplyDeleteI am so thankful for our taxpayer funded health care here. In my experience if you need priotitized you are prioritized, although not everyone agrees with my assessment. We ARE experiencing a critical lack of medical personnel since the pandemic began, but I believe the cause is pandemic-related, not model-related.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad I live in Australia.
ReplyDeleteMike - not true. But in GOP-led states, you can't read books about them.
ReplyDeleteDenimull - thanks! I have plenty of stories about forever medical bills, but on the whole, I just shrug and view it as investing in a continued life of poverty.
Allen - I love that tapestry creator website!
Jenny - I firmly believe in a taxpayer-funded, single-payer system. While many "conservative" Americans view it as unwarranted government interference in our health choices, I don't see any difference with the role now played by insurance company bureaucrats.
River - there are days I wish I did, too. Except for the giant spiders and other weird animals and insects.