Through the Looking Glass of Healthcare

We seem to have gone through the looking glass of healthcare into Alice’s Wonderland where nothing makes sense.

Consider what’s unfolding before us. One end of the political spectrum is busy selling insurance for an industry hoping to get millions of new customers. An enthusiastic hospital industry is joining the effort because they see a financial windfall from shaking off the burden of uncompensated care. And thousands of community activists have become their footsoldiers.

At the other end of the spectrum, a big ad campaign urges people to stage an economic protest and boycott the insurance industry. Who needs their stinking insurance?

Here’s the weird thing. It’s the Democrats who are hawking insurance for Big Health, while the Republicans are pushing for a business boycott. Huh?

Just this week a bizarre ad campaign debuted to warn young people not to buy health insurance. The ads feature a big, creepy Uncle Sam doll popping up in the middle of a young woman’s pelvic exam or a young man’s rectal exam. Yuck!

No doubt things can get weirder, but we’re not sure how.

Click here to read more in the New York Times. Click here and here to see the creepy Uncle Sam ads.

Through the Looking Glass, photograph © Sean Rogers / flickr

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