Comments (23) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   omQ R said, 4 months ago

   I love how if you’re an illegal immigrant, you not only don’t count, you don’t exist.

   In a recent chat with an American friend a couple of days ago describing my daughter’s birth in the UK and care 18 months ago, I was told about a new study that this cartoon must be about. The “illegal” part came up, too.

   If I understood Ramirez’s take on this, everyone who is uninsured (expect illegals, they don’t count, of course) is to blame for not being insured?

   Oh, really?

   http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml

   Can anyone let me know which study Ramirez is alluding to, if such a study exists?

2. 

   Anyol'tomcat said, 4 months ago

   M. Twain quoting B. Disraeli: “…lies, damned lies and statistics….”

3. 

   oldlegodad said, 4 months ago

   The pathetic part is the kid. Lazy @ss “parents”(breeders) don’t get off their butts and sign their kids up for medicare. And even if they did would the kid ever get taken to a wellness clinic or for a school physical??

4. 

   nomad2112 said, 4 months ago

   Guess that’s why Libs think we need reform ‘cause 47 million can’t think for themselves (in their opinion).

5. 

   fennec said, 4 months ago

   Or don’t have the money. I’ve been there. I was lucky that I didn’t need anything major during that time. Not everybody is so lucky.

6. 

   dtroutma said, 4 months ago

   I know quite a few folks who worked hard, and can’t afford it. I also know some who are just flakes. The problem is the “broad brush” and “cheap shot” experts don’t have any facts, and don’t care.

7. 

   Invisible said, 4 months ago

   Wow, what a brain dead moron.

8. 

   petergrt said, 4 months ago

   Invisible: Stop yelling at the mirror!!!

9. 

   GNWachs said, 4 months ago

   I have read detailed studies on the problem discussed here. His figures, while wildly inflated, bring the background data to the forefront.

   The numbers I saw said 9 million people earning over $75,000/year have freely chosen to have no health insurance.

   Our country must make a decision and for the liberals here it is an easy one but nevertheless must be answered. Should our health care system provide total and free health care for undocumented workers? The number i saw was 10 million.

   There are millions of workers who do not have health insurance or inadequate insurance and that is the problem we must address.

10. 

    foxglove16 said, 4 months ago

    omQ R, thanks for the link, I bookmarked it.
    oldlegodad, medicare is not for children, so your terms are incorrect. Most states have some provision for public child healthcare. Here in Washington, the recession has caused the state to toss 1.4 million children off as they made the income cap higher. I recently made a comment that I thought you made rational comments. I’m having to re-think that after this and your use of O’Reilly/ANandy type names like “Dimobulb”

11. 

    lightartsteacher said, 4 months ago

    I lived for 4 years in Indonesia with total and free health care for the nationals. The locals were seen at government expense in the daytime hours. All the doctors and dentists were available in evening hours for those who could pay privately. Guess who got the best care. There were doctors and dentists there, but the better ones left to make more money elsewhere, (and be more free, I would imagine.) I don’t know if they saw the immigrants, legal or otherwise, I doubt it. These people need to register and be legal.in my opinion. If you pay taxes, you can expect some degree of services, then.

12. 

    Corosive Frog said, 4 months ago

    I remember that House MD episode where a man went to the clinic. House said he needed an urine sample. He insisted on doing it home. In the end, as House found out, he passed his girlfriend’s urine as his own because his girlfriend had no insurance. And his GF was pregnant.

13. 

    petergrt said, 4 months ago

    0bama-care is all about 0bama and power grab.

    The Democrats need more people to depend upon the government, and thus expand their constituency.

    What is really needed: Tort reform - not being addressed in the slightest, after all, the Trial Attorneys are the greatest contributors to the Democrat party;
    and a provision for catastrophic health insurance, also not being addressed.

14. 

    bgarner said, 4 months ago

    How about all them mothers whose kids die and inflate American infant mortality statistics to where the US is tied with Slovenia. Maybe they are not interested in health care either.

15. 

    GNWachs said, 4 months ago

    bgarner: when you examine the data the vast majority of the reason for our “higher” infant mortality is because of definition. We define a life birth as one breath. The rest of the world requires 24-72 hours. If everyone else did what we do their infant mortality would be higher than ours.

16. 

    omQ R said, 4 months ago

    I must confess a bias in favour of migrants, legal or not, since I’m an immigrant/emigrant. While my parents may have migrated legally and I have in turn migrated 5 times and lived in 4 different countries legally (worked in 3), I do not differentiate myself from the other economic migrants. I moved for various reasons, twice for economic ones. I understand their position but especialy their plight although I was never in their position. My economic motives were never dire or desperate.
    To deny these workers, and the vast majority are workers, basic healthcare while they toil in your country in jobs that no-one often wants or the actual native jobless often still turn down, is nothing short of inhumane. Think carefully about why they are in your country, address those concerns and you’ll have far fewer illegal workers.

    Dehumanising them is easier I suppose.

17. 

    omQ R said, 4 months ago

    GNWachs: Nonsense. You’re using out-moded data.
    I’m guessing you’re referring to:
    http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/060924/2healy.htm

    Most countries have now adopted the W.H.O.’s definition:

    http://www.who.int/whosis/indicators/compendium/2008/en/index.html

    You might have a better argument saying less developed countries may not have better reporting of deaths which skew their data; or as they improve their reporting, their numbers apparently go up before going down (as their healthcare also improves). But comparing most developed nations, even reducing to just Western nations, the reporting and IMR are accurate enough to allow direct comparison.

    UNICEF uses a computing method to compensate for these differing rates. It is therefore an unofficial rate but nonetheless tries to minimise errors.
    http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx?IndicatorId=0&SeriesId=562

18. 

    4uk4ata said, 4 months ago

    I like the way Ramirez says that everyone can get healthcare, they just don’t want to. Maybe he forgets that not everyone is as well-off as he is.

19. 

    petergrt said, 4 months ago

    The American longevity rate is skewed by many factors that caused by our ‘melting pot’, such as: 1, a relatively high number of babies born to drug addicts; 2, use of heroic measures to save, in many instances essentially a fetus, as opposed to just letting it dye without a birth; 3, high death rate amongst the young, doe to drugs and crime, particularly amongst the blacks and Hispanics. Consequently, any comparison with other developed nations, with much more homogeneous population is simply not comparing apples to apples.

    On the other hand, Americans live a lot longer than any other nationality, after having been diagnosed with cancer or a heart decease and such, which is precisely, why the world’s wealthy come to the US for medical treatment, except for layetril and such …

20. 

    olfart said, 4 months ago

    I favor free medical care for illegal aliens as part of a 4-step process: 1. Clear the airway. 2. Stop the bleeding. 3. Deport the alien. 4. Imprison the alien’s employer. The idea that illegals only fill jobs that native workers don’t want is a crock! If those jobs paid a fair wage, american unemployed would jump on them. Illegal workers depress wages too much for anyone not willing to live fifteen to a room.

21. 

    believecommonsense said, 4 months ago

    Ramirez is so full of it he should be ashamed of himself telling such bald faced lies. He’s conveniently forgetting folks who work for small businesses who don’t offer healthcare benefits, folks who work for low wages at Wal-Mart and can’t afford the premiums since WM shifts the majority of the cost to its employees, folks who are self-employed and can’t get affordable insurance for a variety of reasons.

    I wonder if he even realizes how many people he ‘disses with this kind of toon.

22. 

    Michigander said, 4 months ago

    I fell in the group of between jobs frequently for four years straight. I work part time now and have insurance. It may not be the best coverage offered to employees ever found, but it is something. The part of this cartoon about the kid whose parents didn’t sign them up probably isn’t too far off. You would be surprised how many parents don’t know that the government provides medical coverage for minor children. For some though, they probably don’t want to fill out the hundreds of forms and all of the proof of income and etc. that they need to have to start providing coverage for them or their children.

23. 

    oldlegodad said, 4 months ago

    gander…which is what I was saying above…