Kristof asks at the end about whether we wish to be the only rich country that lets 32 year-old women due for want of health insurance. "Is that really us?" he asks.

Yes. That's us. The land of corporate personhood, where insurance parasites that consume 30% of the health care dollar without providing anything are destroying the host, the USA.

For these parasites, "The Bottom Line is the bottom line" and nothing else matters. Viagra and new hips for 80 year old men are routine, plus quadruple bypasses, cataract surgery, new knees, and intense dialysis for years . . . for those lucky enough to wait for the socialized medicine to kick in. For the rest of us, it's tough titties.

The "health care" debate always makes me recall Jefferson's line about "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever."

All you got to do is be pulled over for suspicion of Driving under the influence in Texas of Idaho and tell the cop no alcohol tests. Reading from an associated report:
"The article then goes on to describe how officers in Texas and Idaho are training to withdraw blood from “suspects” as a replacement for the standard breathalyzer test, primarily because police can’t make anyone breathe into a tube but apparently, in the “land of the free,” they can forcibly hold someone down and jab a needle into their arm and take their blood, “a practice that’s been upheld by Idaho’s Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court,” according to the report. Wow! lab tests free.

A federal crime of some sort has been my long-term care and health care plan for some years now. I'm just not quite ready for it. But Bernie Madoff makes the process look quite attractive.

In today's economy, letting people die of cancer is good business... apparently, if you don't believe in that kind of business model, youre a socialist,communists, marxist nazi...

Alan L.

Bank robbery, no weapon, threatening note for teller. Recommend the US Bank branch on ground floor of old Crown Plaza building in Portland, local FBI office is up on 4th floor. You want to be sure to do federal time, the medical facilities are much better at Sheridan than in the Oregon state prisons.

Maybe you want to do three, with the first one somewhere in Clackamas County and the second one in Washington County and make the Crown Plaza branch the last and wait around for the feebs to apprehend you at that one..

With 3, you are sure to get an actual sentence, and not wind up in the state system.

Don't forget inmates also get free dental care, free food, free heat, free room and board, free legal counsel, free access to college classes, free cable TV, free Internet access, free clothing, free haircuts, free eye care, free prescription drugs, free books to read, free toiletries, free stationary and stamps, and a unique experience you simply could not buy anywhere else.

Yeah, inmates get "free" health care in the sense that when they are stabbed or have their throat cut, a doctor will eventually be called to do triage.

Their "free" dental care consists of tooth extractions of any troubled teeth, not cleanings or checkups. It's near impossible to get so much as an aspirin or any type of asthma, or allergy relief or even natural supplements.

They also get "free" prostate exams from larger prisoners and if they squeel they get "free" beatings and worse.
Unless you know someone in the system, Gibby, you should reconsider your ignorant comments.

Well notjustbecauseyourclueless, it's like this. Free extractions sounds a lot like free dental care to me. No annual checkups or natural supplements? Oh my, really?.

Depending on the facility up to 47% will get some type of psychotropic drug (for free) because most incarcerated folks have some form of mental illness and should not be there in the first place.

Management of a jail or prison is a lot like managing an entire city, only the residents are often in constant crisis mode. But no matter how sad that is, no one there is paying taxes to support the effort to support them.

In addition to mental health treatment there are inmate pregnancies, those with liver disease and/or other serious illnesses such as cancer. All are treated by doctors, and that treatment is paid for by taxpayers.

The point is that sometimes those who have committed crimes are given more access to health care than the impoverished.

I guess we diverge at the definition of CARE

I have a friend who is incarcerated and he has to pay for every ounce of soap, toothpaste and Q-tip, at inflated prices from the commissary. There is only one TV in the common area with cable. Content is regulated and 75% of it is blocked. If you can afford it, they offer a crappy portalbe tv through the commissary for $270.00. The only way to get dental care is when something becomes infected or absessed, and then they will pull it but you don't get anesthetic. There is no free eye care of any kind.
I'm sure Glibby was just being sardonic, but if anyone thinks inmates have it easy they are way off. I can share some letters from inside with them.

Freedom and democracy?

Only if you can afford it.