The Blood-Spattered Brie: A look at American healthcare

Adam Felber writes about a recent emergency room adventure that sounds pretty familiar to me. I had a nasty run-in with a knife last year that required similar attention. Which meant hanging out in an ER waiting room for well over an hour (I was 'fast-tracked,' too) before hanging out in a viewing room for another forty-five minutes or so. Luckily, I had insurance at the time and it didn't cost me $500. But it does demonstrate how broken our system is. I'm really pleased to hear politicians start talking about national health care for the reason Felber cites:

As overworked as the phrase may sound, we really need to fix this country’s health care system. Shiftless plutocrats and their lobbyist lackeys will tell you that a plan that covers everyone will cost more, but a trip down to your local ER on a Saturday afternoon will show you that you are, in fact, already paying top dollar for a very poor form of universal healthcare. AND paying for your own on top of that. They will tell you that a socialized program will be inefficient or insubstantial, but as a guy who once blew out his knee on a Canadian stage, I can tell you that this is not the case.

Oh, and the story is pretty funny, too. 3 bonus points to anyone who gets my too-clever movie reference.