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Health Care Reform Thought Bubble

2009-09-04 · John · watch on YouTube · US politics & society · news analysis

An animated Thought Bubble version of John's health-care video: via Walkin' Tall, the boar that can't walk, John lays out the US reform options and argues America already has inefficient socialized medicine because it treats health care as a right.

What is said

00:00:00 — At the Indiana State Fair John saw Walkin' Tall, the world's largest boar, who reminds him of America's healthcare system

  • ★★ John's description says the Thought Bubble people used the audio of a video he made to create this animation. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John's description asks viewers to subscribe to Thought Bubble's YouTube channel. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John was at the Indiana State Fair the day before and saw the world's largest boar, named Walkin' Tall. — 00:00:04
  • ★ John says the boar weighs more than 1,100 pounds and cannot stand up because his body is too big for his legs. — 00:00:04

00:00:36 — Kill the pig, diet, or keep feeding: the debate; no death panels; two shared premises (too much GDP, unfair system)

  • ★★★ John likens the boar to America's healthcare system, impressively or distressingly huge; the debate boils down to killing him, a diet, or feeding him. — 00:00:36 · United States
  • ★★ John won't discuss death panels, saying they are not in the bill and the unsophisticated debate about them has distracted from a significant issue. — 00:00:36
  • ★★ John says he wants to talk about the healthcare debate in a non-partisan way. — 00:00:36
  • ★★★ John says nearly everyone, conservative or liberal, agrees the US spends way too much of its GDP on healthcare and its system is radically unfair. — 00:00:36 · United States

00:01:06 — Unfairness (big employers, pre-existing conditions) and the three positions: public option, nonprofit insurers, keep feeding the pig

  • ★★ John says good healthcare in America depends largely on working for a big company, which must provide benefits, and on having no pre-existing condition. — 00:01:06 · United States
  • ★★★ John explains the public option: a large government-run insurer anyone could buy into, cheaper for the poor, negotiating lower costs and fewer procedures. — 00:01:06
  • ★★ John says private insurers hate the public option, though it would not eliminate them, because its size would win lower prices and draw customers away. — 00:01:30
  • ★★ John describes the 'put the pig on a diet' camp: nonprofit insurers that compete with private ones and work for patients rather than shareholders. — 00:01:30
  • ★★ John says the downside of the nonprofit-insurer plan is that tens of millions of people would still have no health insurance. — 00:02:00
  • ★★ John says the 'keep feeding the pig' camp opposes an overhaul; many are happy with their healthcare and, he thinks, don't want to pay for others' stupid decisions. (hedged) — 00:02:00

00:02:24 — America already has socialism and inefficient socialized medicine; health care as a right the government must protect

  • ★★★ Despite cries against socialism, John says America already shares the cost of schools, roads and the military, and has bloated, inefficient socialized medicine since hospitals treat anyone. — 00:02:24 · United States
  • ★★★ John argues the inefficiency of this socialized medicine is what makes US healthcare so much more expensive than anywhere else in the world. (hedged) — 00:02:24
  • ★★★ John asks whether healthcare is a privilege or a right: if a privilege, the uninsured who can't pay should go untreated; he thinks we treat them because we believe it is a right. (hedged) — 00:02:57
  • ★★★ John concludes that if healthcare is a right, like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is a government's responsibility to protect it. — 00:02:57

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