Should everyone be guaranteed health care?
Hank agrees, calling employer-based health care arbitrary and cruel in 2020 and welcoming 'Medicare for all who want it' in 2024.
Axis: yes, universal coverage ... no, market-based care
Positions by date: 28 records in 28 videos. The position was refined (2011), never reversed, in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-04-28 | first on record | John argues health care is a fixable unfairness: the US trails poorer places on infant mortality, and uninsurable people like Hank suffer and entrepreneurship is stifled. | Ranting and Giving Stuff Away 00:02:16 |
| 2009-08-16 | restate | John argues Americans treat health care as a right, since the uninsured are still treated, and that a government must protect that right. | Health Care Overhaul Summarized Via MASSIVE PIG 00:03:32 |
| 2009-09-04 | restate | John argues Americans treat health care as a right, since the uninsured are still treated, and that a government must protect that right. | Health Care Reform Thought Bubble 00:02:57 |
| 2009-09-20 (said on 2009-09-21, implied) | restate | John argues for a public health-insurance option across America as the real conservative economic position. | Health Care Reform: The Hank Factor 00:02:33 |
| 2009-12-29 | restate | John backs the bill's insurance mandate and wider coverage: experts think reform won't work otherwise, and the uninsured raise costs for everyone. | Adorable Puppy Explains Health Care Bill 00:03:09 |
| 2011-01-26 | refine | John argues the US needs universal health insurance with good drug coverage, ultimately because a healthier workforce benefits the economy. | I OWN WARNER CHILCOTT! 00:03:13 |
| 2011-06-15 (said on 2011-06-14, implied) | restate | John contrasts the US, where he says 60% of bankruptcies come from medical costs, with the Netherlands' 0%. | Question Tuesday! Paula Deen Riding Me (and critical reading) 00:01:05 |
| 2013-09-03 | restate | John argues publicly subsidized health insurance and the ACA free entrepreneurs to innovate and create jobs, a capitalist case for health care reform. | Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform 00:03:24 |
| 2013-10-08 | restate | John judges that, compared with buying insurance before the ACA, getting insurance has gotten dramatically better, despite the exchange's server problems. | Applying for Health Insurance: Then and Now 00:05:24 |
| 2015-03-24 | restate | John says the US did not and still does not have real universal health care, only emergency patch-up care for everyone. | Is Obamacare Working? The Affordable Care Act Five Years Later 00:01:29 |
| 2021-01-05 | restate | We also already know that every person deserves access to health care and educational opportunities. | SUPERIOR FISH BEINGS 00:02:55 |
| 2021-02-02 | restate | The description says we are in this mess because, as a species, we did not prioritize strong and equitable health care systems for all humans; we have a choice. | I Predicted the Pandemic (over and over and over again) video description |
| 2023-05-02 | restate | John says the dignified, high-quality health care everyone deserves is coming to Kono, and with it generational change. | GOOD NEWS 00:05:50 |
| 2023-06-27 | restate | John says Dr. Carole Mitnick gave him an idea new to him in 45 years: treating illness not as an opportunity to maximize value but to extend the quality and length of human lives. | Alone on the Cancer Boat: A Vlogbrothers Reunion 00:06:35 |
| 2023-08-22 | restate | In the description John says he is grateful and relieved at Hank's remission and more committed than ever to the idea that everyone should be able to access high-quality health care. | The Panera Phenomenon video description |
| 2023-09-12 | restate | John tells Danaher's executives that building something is only valuable if those who need it most can access it; it is time for $5 tests and people over profits. | Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid 00:07:52 |
| 2023-09-14 | restate | John says the core disagreement with Danaher and Cepheid is that a tool the neediest can't use is not useful; citing Dr. Peter Mugyenyi on HIV drugs, he says medicine fails unless it both invents and distributes treatments. · also in: EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS | Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES 00:20:05 |
| 2023-11-21 | restate | John calls it one of the many insanities of the US health care system that so many people are bankrupted just for being sick. | Minus Its Charms 00:02:53 |
| 2024-03-12 | restate | Treat, the second step: John says everyone diagnosed with TB should be able to receive curative treatment appropriate to their particular infection. | How We End TB 00:01:56 |
| 2024-11-05 | restate | John isn't doing it for the money: he makes about $25,000 a year helping with Crash Course, which gets him health insurance, and otherwise hasn't been paid for YouTube in years. | Why Do I Still Make YouTube Videos? 00:00:29 |
| 2025-05-06 | restate | John says Gladys's treatment is no magic solution to all of life's problems, but it is the basic access to health care every human being deserves. | Health CARE: Thoughts from Lima 00:02:26 |
| 2025-05-13 | restate | John says the MCOE's opening is not the end but the beginning of people in Kono accessing the high-quality, dignified care every human being deserves. | I Have the BEST News 00:05:01 |
| 2026-04-28 | restate | In the C-section recovery wards John met women whose lives would have been in grave danger from giving birth, now getting the care everyone deserves. | What I Can't Show You 00:03:24 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-03-22 | first on record | Hank welcomes health-care reform that will stop insurers being biased against people with pre-existing conditions. | Top 10 Weirdest Diseases 00:00:05 |
| 2011-01-24 | restate | Hank says the drug-price problem is not a 'me issue' and must be fixed for everyone. | The 1200% Increase in my Prescription Drug Costs 00:03:44 |
| 2014-12-12 | restate | Hank says people lacking access to simple health care at the peak moment of human wealth is the least sensible thing in the world. | NONSENSE: P4A 2014 - Partners in Health 00:00:26 |
| 2020-04-10 | restate | Hank says if America will ever recognize that getting health care through one's employer is arbitrary, cruel and ludicrous, this is the moment. | Things I'm Finding Encouraging 00:00:24 |
| 2022-03-18 | restate | Hank would take universal health care over not changing the clocks, but that is not the choice: the choice is whether to do this easy, free thing everyone wants. | How to Fix Daylight Saving Time 00:00:52 |
| 2024-05-10 | restate | Hank says Pete's 'Medicare for all who want it' plan from his presidential run sounds great, since private insurance seems unlikely to go away in the US. | Three Whole Onions with Secretary Pete Buttigieg 00:11:44 |
Background
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-05-20 | background | Hank's song criticises US health care: insurers avoid the sick, uninsured patients face unaffordable drug prices set as high as the market can bear. (playful) | Ulcerative Colitis: A Song 00:01:04 |
| 2017-06-27 | background | John apologises to readers outside the US and Canada, joking that by not being American they probably get universal health care, maybe worth more than an autograph. (playful, hedged) | UNBOXING 00:01:21 |
| 2019-07-26 | background | By prevailing theory, doubling his drug's price so 25% of users can't afford it creates more value because more money is made; Hank says it creates less, serving fewer people. (hypothetical) | The Best $10,000 I Ever Spent 00:02:17 |
| 2024-11-13 | background | Reading an order from Alberta, John jokes that the buyer, not living in America, has health care, which he calls phenomenal. (playful) | Some New Things… 00:55:07 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).