Chris P. Baecon 🇸🇩 🇳🇪

This is the ultimate midwit healthcare take. No, 32 countries have not “figured out” universal healthcare. The UK has “free” healthcare, and roughly 1 in 3 cancer patients in England still fail to start treatment within 62 days of urgent referral. Canada has “free” healthcare, and the median wait for neurosurgical treatment is around a year. Australia has “free” healthcare, and over half the country still buys private insurance despite paying for a public universal system with their taxes. Switzerland has universal coverage, because residents are required to buy private insurance. There is no government system where benevolent bureaucrats tuck you in at night with a warm blanket and an MRI appointment. The actual lesson from other wealthy countries is not “they figured it out.” America’s system has huge problems. Our prices are insane, insurance markets are distorted, and hospital systems are cartelized. Our regulations make care more expensive than it needs to be. Yet we still guarantee access to even the 8% who don’t have coverage. We give easy routes to qualify for medicaid for those with disabilities. Pretending the rest of the world solved healthcare because they slapped the word “universal” on a rationing scheme is not analysis. It is bumper sticker policy for people who think access means having a card in your wallet while you wait a year to see the doctor you need.

Let's not forget the trial for Karmelo Anthony is set to begin on June 1st. He is charged with first degree murder after defending himself against a racist white boy. I believe he will be acquitted. Let's support the Anthony family in any way we can.

I just voted for three fantastic independent candidates in Finsbury Park who oppose austerity, stand up to racism and support the people of Palestine. Today, a new kind of politics is on the ballot — and community power will win!

You know what would be awesome. If at least one of these two came out and said: "We've looked in Tourettes and John Davidson and his life story and all is forgiven. He clearly meant no harm." But they won't and that says more about their character than John's.