'It doesn't work.'

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Apparent Trap
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Stewart skewers 'pussy' Republicans for flailing and bawling that Obama's invitation to discuss health care is a 'trap'. Cutting, hilarious, and sad -- typical Stewart -- but it's a piece by John Oliver at the clip's 3-minute mark that's enraging.

Oliver interviews GOP jackasses with no knowlege whatsoever that the state they've gathered in to bash health care insurance reform -- Hawaii -- has successfully provided coverage to the bulk of its citizens for over 40 years. These white, well-off and shockingly clueless GOP nitwits repeatedly answer Oliver's questions about government-backed health care coverage with variations of 'it doesn't work'. It's almost -- almost -- painful to watch them squirm from beneath the reality of Hawaii's successful government-run program, but they do, and hang their hopeless cause on convincing the easily persuaded that a successful, 40-year program they know nothing about does not, in fact, work.

Here are the people fighting reform in the US. Millions of uninsured Americans are sacrificed so these relics may keep their glistening lawns and gas-chugging sedans and summer cottages. It's all here -- the lying, the spinning, the sanctimonious tut-tutting about 'socialism', the pro-business scare tactics dumped on fearful TV viewers every hour of every day by wretched propandists like Fox 'American Taliban' News. Blood suckers covering for their insurance, pharmaceutical and medical industry masters that have too much to lose if real reform were to gain traction in the US AND SAVE THOUSANDS OF LIVES EVERY YEAR.

This is especially timely for me. I'm currently sick as a dog. In Australia, every man, woman and child is guaranteed affordable health care. Here are the precise steps I've taken to remedy my condition:

1. Called a local medical practice for a same-day appointment ('Can you be here in 40 minutes?')
2. Walked 3 blocks to the practice.
3. Offered my Medicare card as proof of eligibility. (Note: No paperwork was required, as my details are kept on Medicare's database.)
4. Got examined by doctor, who diagnosed the flu.
5. Billed $67 for visit, about two-thirds of which will be reimbursed by Medicare.
6. Took Dr's prescription to local pharmacy where I paid $15 for amoxicillin. (Note: Triple this figure for comparable US price.)

No HMO-approved doctor list, no demeaning questions about insurance, no piles of paperwork, no deductibles, no outrageous drug costs.

IT DOES WORK.

Lying motherf*ckers.