Register for a FREE GoComics account and get this plus any other comic strip delivered to your Personalized Comic Page, Daily. With a free account you will be able to build a Comic Page filled with the Comics you want to see each day.
With the largest collection of Comics and Editorial Cartoons online there is plenty to choose from. Upgrade to a GoComics Pro account (Only $.99/Month) and have unlimited archive access to decades of comics.
Customize Homepage
Daily Comics Email
Comment, share, interact with other comic fans
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Ramirez combines an encyclopedic knowledge of the news with a captivating drawing style to create consistently outstanding editorial cartoons.
"Editorial cartoons should be smart and substantive, provocative and informative. They should stir passions and deep emotions. Editorial cartoons should be the catalyst for thought, and frankly speaking, if you can make politicians think, that is an accomplishment in itself."
© Michael Ramirez - All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2013. Universal Uclick, All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions - Privacy Policy

Comments (42) (Please sign in to comment)
narrowminded said, 3 months ago
Right on! The largest tax increase in the history of the world is coming down the track.
wmconelly said, 3 months ago
I count two snakes. What’s the other? Disease? Early Death? Lack of Insurance? How’s about the BIG picture, Mr. R??
Ms. Ima said, 3 months ago
Ka-ZING! The other snake represents liberals raising taxes on doctors.
ODon said, 3 months ago
Lower costs, improve outcomes. Drop Obama/RomneyCare adopt universal healthcare.
omQ R said, 3 months ago
@wmconelly
It’s a common mistake, to use the staff of Caduceus instead of the Staff of Asclepius
Asclepius was a Greek god associated with healing and medicine.
The caduceus was the magic staff of Hermes (Roman Mercury), the god of commerce, eloquence, invention, travel and theft, and a symbol of heralds and commerce, not medicine. Apparently things got a little hazy a few hundred years ago…maybe that’s when medicine became commercialised ! It’s more likely your insurance provider might have the caduceus whereas the good doctor will have Asclepius’s rod. So, perhaps not used incorrectly in this ’toon.
Clark Kent said, 3 months ago
Wrong label. It should say insurance company death panels.
Wraithkin said, 3 months ago
@ODon
The only way to adopt a “universal healthcare” is to have absolute control over every aspect of healthcare. Given that is a violation of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause (to regulate interstate commerce, not to control it), I don’t see that happening. That’s assuming that it does actually lowers costs, which I am extremely skeptical.
ODon said, 3 months ago
@Wraithkin I believe it feasible to construct a sound system for the people by the people within the laws of the people. We took a step with medicare.
As far as lowering costs look at where we stand per capita, there’s obviously a lot of unnecessary money being expended and it’s not delivering a superior product.
Jonathan said, 3 months ago
@omQ_R you may have a point; however your information makes Mr Ramirez’ selection of the staff of Caduceus even more approprate.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago
@Clark Kent
Well when you have Doctors calling out Obama to his face what do you think?
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/08/top-neurosurgeon-rips-obamacare-to-presidents-face-video/
This pediatric neurosurgeon is also black so no comments about being racist.
I Play One On TV said, 3 months ago
Obamacare was specifically constructed back in the days when it was assumed that Republicans would be willing to work for the best interest of the populacbe.
To make it more palatable, it was essentially Romneycare. Republicans like Romneycare. Also, it had an individual mandate. Republicans liked the individual mandate, when it was invented at the Heritage Institute, when it met the definition of “individual responsibility”, and when it was the cornerstone of Medicare Part D.
But, Republicans have no desire to work for anything but more power at this time, so they are intent on making our lives as miserable as possible to blame it on Democrats and win the next election.
And it appears that Republicans can only recognize a bad idea when a Democrat proposes it.
Obamacare was a bad idea in the first place; you can’t make a bad idea better by trying to gain support from the people who came up with the bad ideas.
This doctor says universal health care is the best, the only, and the final alternative. Medicare and Medicaid treat me much, much better than does private insurance, and this extends to the “independent contractors” (insurance companies) who subcontract Medicare and Medicaid.
Isn’t it past time we offer better ideas instead of just complaining about bad ones? What a silly concept THAT is.
Wraithkin said, 3 months ago
@ODon
The problem is people always assume it’s the insurance company that is the source of the unnecessary outlays of money. No one has bothered to look at the causality of those increased outlays, other than a cursory, “it’s the evil insurance company making a profit !!” Yes, insurance companies are in it to make a profit. But they also have a responsibility to their shareholders to minimize operating expenses, and a responsibility to their policy holders to keep premiums down.
I work for an insurance company (not a health one) and we are constantly pinged for process improvements. We do this so we can do two things: Maximize profits and keep insurance premiums down. The second is especially true, because we have to get every premium increase we make cleared through the state’s insurance commissioner’s office. Most people don’t realize that insurance is one of the most highly-regulated industries out there.
So are there ways we can trim expenses? Yes. But I don’t think going single-payer is going to fix that. Not only that, but if you don’t have a means of making college more affordable, doctors will not work for the wages we see in other countries, because these doctors come into the work force with hundreds of thousands of college debt piled up.
So if you can’t reduce pay to doctors, insurance companies are forced to charge xyz by the state, and hospitals get pushback from insurance companies on their rates (and the above providers get raked over the coals by the government health-care programs), where do you suggest we trim? What is the source? Because if you force a single-payer system on this country, millions of people will be out of work, and the country’s budget will explode at an exponential rate.
I’m sorry, but do NOT approve of paying 50% tax to support some slacker’s health insurance because they don’t want to work.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago
@Wraithkin
I think you get the post of the day!
Gypsy8 said, 3 months ago
- The U.S. is the only country in the civilized world that treats health care as a for-profit business opportunity.
- Other countries offer universal health care to all it’s citizens.
- Other countries have better health care outcomes on most measurements.
- Affordable health care delivery to the masses in the U.S. is mediocre by global standards. (The U.S. is high in medical innovation.)
- Other countries keep costs down to a manageable level in one of two ways:
1. Single payer national health care
2. Not for profit insurance and close control of costs.
.
Are you results oriented, or do you want to defend a political ideology?
jack75287 said, 3 months ago
@Gypsy8
Ok but where does the President of Canada go for his health care & the late King of Jordon came here for years.
Lets face it with the press we have no 90% of what we here has a leftist slant. So how sure are you?