Jon Stewart At His Best...

Here's the link to The Daily Show from Thursday, where he roasts Glenn Beck over the hottest possible coals. Really... was it possible for Beck to be any more of a fucking moron before this? Uh, apparently so. Here's the classic line, (delivered at about 3:20 in) about Beck's 2008 surgery for "hemorrhoids, or some other anal procedure":

I’ll tell you what doesn’t really speak well of our healthcare system – that in those 16 months, the hole that they stitched up in Glenn Beck’s ass hasn’t healed enough for him to stop talking out of it.

What makes me smile is that Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, and the rest of the right-wing nutjob media cabal make it so EASY to call them on their bullshit. All it takes is a couple of interns working at Comedy Central (!) to pore over some old videotape or YouTube videos.

Beck is, of course, wrong that we have the best healthcare system in the world. According to the World Health Organization, in 2000 (the last year for which a ranking could be ascertained), that honor belonged to France. Where was the United States? All the way down at #37. Oh, you say, but the U.S. has the best doctors! The best equipment! If I'm a Canadian and I'm really, really sick, I'm going to America where I can get the best doctors and equipment money can buy. Yes, probably so. But, since your Canadian health insurance won't cover an American doctor, it's 100% your money out of your pocket. So, if you're a filthy rich Canadian who can afford to spend hundreds of thousands on American medical care, you're doing great, but if you're some average Joe in Saskatoon, you're stuck with not-the-best doctors and/or equipment, paid for 100% by your government.

The same is true for Americans, by the way. If you have some rare form of cancer and the best doctor in the world is in America but isn't in your plan's network, maybe you're going off-network and paying for half the cost out of pocket, plus the deductible and annual minimum. And then there's some panel at the insurer looking at your claim to determine if what you had was pre-existing so that they wouldn't have to pay out at all. Meanwhile, the doctor and the anesthesiologist still want to get paid and aren't waiting months for the insurance company to kick in. If you don't pay or work something out, they send you to collections, which messes up your credit rating to the point where then your credit card limits get dropped to nothing and the rate on any outstanding balances goes to 30% because your score dropped below 700. Pretty vicious scenario, and, by the way, not unrealistic.

So, the U.S. was ranked #37 in the world in health care systems, not in quality of actual care. Great doctors and top-notch innovation, strangled by the most inane, inefficient, and health-averse insurance system in the world. This is why the system needs reform, and why the system will be reformed by President Obama in his first term.