Dear Friends,
THIS WEEK’S PODCAST AND RADIO PROGRAM:
(01:40) Thompson’s murder elicits rage over US health-care system;
(18:33) Prison labor: America’s new slave class;
(37:23) Maybe aliens have finally arrived to save us from ourselves;
(53:41) Iowa Governor again refuses food for poor children, with Kathy Byrnes Fallon.
As I write this column, the mystery of the New Jersey drones remains unsolved. To end the suspense, I’ve decided to come clean. The drones are probes sent out by a mothership sent to bring Charles and me back to our home planet. (See undoctored photo for proof of our true identity. Photo credit, Kathy Byrnes. Not an alien.)
Because Charles and I live in Iowa, a.k.a. fly-over country (definitely the best place to be whether you’re evading aliens, rising seas, wildfires, costly housing, or insufferable coastal elites), our alien-homies never thought to look beyond “greater New York” to track us down. Silly aliens.
So, in the interest of ending this plague of drones ruining Christmas for New Jerseyans, Charles and I are turning ourselves in. Come get us, you bug-eyed bastards.
Charles and l will soon board the mothership for the long flight back to our home planet, where we expect to be tried for defamation for much of what we’ve said on this program over the past 15 years. Hey, it’ll probably turn out better for us than being sued for defamation by Donald Trump.
Before we go, let’s talk about America’s health care system, which has been under a microscope these past couple of weeks after the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, Brian Thompson.
To be clear, and I can’t state this emphatically enough: killing people who are doing something you don’t like is wrong. Period.
Want to reform America’s failed health care system? Elect politicians not bought-and-paid-for by Big Pharma, Big Hospital, and Big Insurance. And sure, it’s hard to find candidates who fit that description. Hard, but not impossible. For detail on how badly leaders of both major parties are in the industry’s pocket check out Open Secrets Health Sector Summary.
As reported in The Lever and Truthout: “As rising health care costs and inadequate insurance coverage leave one in three Americans saddled with medical debt, the nation’s top health insurers have dumped billions into enriching their executives and top shareholders through lucrative stock buybacks.
“All in all, the country’s largest health insurers have invested over $120 billion into repurchasing their own shares since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. These include UnitedHealth Group; Cigna; Elevance Health, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield; and CVS Health, which acquired Aetna in 2018.”
Most Americans know our health care system is broken. I ask Charles if doctors he works with are warming up to the need for comprehensive reform. Quoting Charles: “Physicians have moved more toward the idea that the system doesn’t work.”
That’s encouraging. For sure, a massive overhaul is needed, and “Medicaid for All!” oughta be our rallying cry.
Every once in awhile I like to give Charles the last word; and here he’s referring to much more than our broken health care system: “We’re going to be entering a time when the inequities in this country are going to become much more glaring, including for people who voted for this administration.”
Sooner the better. Just sorry I won’t be here to see it. Sure hope they have good health care for prisoners where Charles and I are headed.
Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action. — Ed Fallon
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