Watch now | We built a civilization that requires electricity, insulin, and a working car to participate in... Then handed the pricing mechanism to people whose legal obligation is to their shareholders.
Love, love, love this essay. You express the problem so well. I lived in a nation that has a national health care system. EVERYONE HAS ACCESS TO THE HEALTHCARE THEY NEED. This is a nation that is not even close to having the wealth that the US has. This is how it works: if you need to see a doctor, you go to your local clinic. It's first-come, first-served. If the doctor prescribes treatment or a medication, you get the treatment or medication your doctor prescribes. There is NO CHARGE at the point of service. The system is funded by universal taxation. It includes dental care.
In the county next to the one in which I live -- it is in Maryland and is a suburb of DC -- a little boy DIED because his family did not have dental insurance and they could find a dentist to treat an abscess in his tooth. He died from that. That is NOT acceptable. We can do better and our health care does not have to involve the ridiculous bureaucracy over which we have no control.
Thank you for addressing this topic. Of course, it isn't only health care as you so eloquently point out.
Thank you for sharing that perspective. Stories like that are exactly why this issue frustrates so many people.
Regardless of where someone stands on single-payer, public options, private insurance, or some hybrid system, I think most Americans agree on one basic principle: no child should die because their family can't afford care.
The wealthiest nation in history should be capable of guaranteeing access to essential medical, dental, and mental health care while still debating the best way to deliver it. We seem to spend far more time arguing over ideology than solving the actual problem.
I appreciate you taking the time to read and contribute to the discussion.
Mental Health Care? Yeah right! None of that is available in the state that I live in! God do I wish it was! I have two sons with issues, one of them some major issues! I also have a grandson that has major issues! Trying to find insurance to cover these things and their meds is very hard and ridiculous! No one wants to cover much of any of it! On the grandson, his mother has been busting her behind for over two and a half years to get him the benefits that he so deserves! My benefits came twenty years ago with one word! Yes, you read that right, one word! That word was TERMINAL! I will be listed that for the rest of my life! Even though I’m in remission, my cancer can come back at any day, week, month or year! I was given six months to live! I have been blessed with twenty years next month! Am I grateful, well partially! I have survived for now but while I was sick, my husband and I fought tooth and nail not to lose what we had! About a year after, we lost everything! We lost our home, our land, a good bit of our belongings, our dignity, everything! Tell me again I live in the richest country on Earth, I’ll laugh in your face and tell you Nice Try! I don’t believe one word of that! Sorry, not with what we went through! And on top of that, I lost my wonderful husband nine years ago! What’s out there for me? Not much at this point!
I do think your post is great! I just wish more was true! I will follow you though, even though I can’t afford to be a paid subscriber even though I want to! Sorry about that!
This is exactly the piece talking about. Insulin that floats freely, chemo with no "budget version," a country that spends a trillion on defense and can't seem to find the money to keep a family from losing everything to a diagnosis. You didn't just read that argument, you lived it. Twenty years of survival, and the reward was your home, your land, and eventually your husband too.
And your grandson's mother spending two and a half years fighting for benefits he needs isn't a bureaucratic hiccup, it's the same design flaw. A system that makes basic survival something you have to prove, repeatedly, to people whose job is to say no.
You don't need to be a paid subscriber for your story to matter here. Thank you for telling it, and for still showing up. I'm sorry it took losing so much to get you this far.
You articulate the problem so well. I hope you are working to maximize the audience for your writing because I'm convinced that Americans could embrace the idea of a universal health care system if we could find the way to communicate this message that gets through to them. Seriously.
Americans have already embraced it. They have embraced it for decades. We pay Israel every single year. Israel has universal healthcare. So we pay for universal healthcare already. Handled.
You will be seeing a podcast I did with Ty Pinkins this week where he discusses this in depth. I actually didn't know that, but I knew every other country in Europe and most of Southeast Asia has it so it didn't surprise me.
It is very unfortunate that we pay Israel all that money and they have a Universal Health Care and we don't and I love the way that you worded this.
I'm aJersey Boy... We love sarcasm... so the way you put it is very jersey-esque... It's a compliment.
Bob. You should really join this publication subscribers and contribute to the community. The more intelligent contributions, the more valuable it is for all of us.
Automation and greed are tearing a massive hole in the economy.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is happening now. We already lost our manufacturing jobs. Next is retail, call center, fast-food jobs, and many others are going to follow.
We have unprecedented economic transformation where the current winner-take-all capitalist system fails ordinary people. I think economy must serve humanity rather than treating people merely as inputs for efficiency machines.
Like you alluded to, we need to redefine progress. I love the idea of replacing GDP metrics with measurements that actually reflect societal well-being… such as children's success, mental health, substance abuse rates, clean air, clean water, and affordability… those things automatically give us insight that the other dominos are positioned correctly.
I think we need a "trickle up economy" and a human-centered vision where all human beings are valued equal, like it says and all of our guardrails are enforced to take away this unbridled economic approach we have seen ramp up over the past 25yrs.
Thanks brother. Yeah I have worked in the restaurant Industries to get out of college and just sold my share of my restaurant in 2024 and decided to start writing of all things… Eminem restaurant and operating in the front of the house it gives you a ton of stress and also the opportunity to talk to all kinds of people. I feel like I needed to start writing with a message that's different from what people normally get and talks about things that more people have in common than the tV or Internet usually has us believe
Thank you so much Heather ... it's definitely one of my favorites.
I tried to do a weekly update where I pin five posts on the top and nine posts on the bottom, to go along with the six top posts and the six recent posts that substack puts there…
All together, you have about 25 posts that I've written that I feel are the best for the most people.
everything you said Hitler did .took control of money . no government debt . two made sure people came first . putting them to work with vacation 8 hour day and got rid the parasite Jews
OK Fred... I agree that governments should be judged by whether ordinary people can afford to live, work, and build a future. That's a conversation worth having. It's what I write about almost every day... Along with the instructions of 12 ways to get there back to my data and history . Don't really try to form opinions, just point out the things that I have receipts for that are not in the mainstream narrative.
..m. equating those goals with Hitler?
You can't separate economic policies from the fascist regime responsible for dictatorship, aggressive war, political repression, and the systematic murder of millions of innocent people, including six million Jews.
Those crimes aren't a footnote to the discussion. It strips away credibility.
My argument is that we should learn from history, not romanticize authoritarian regimes.
If a policy has merit, defend it on its own evidence, if it can't survive evidence... He really don't need to put Hitler as its spokesman. It's like not surviving evidence and throwing your juice on the ground afterwards...
That keeps the conversation focused on policy while drawing a clear line against historical revisionism and antisemitic rhetoric. Humans have an odd habit of taking a legitimate point, attaching it to the worst possible example, and then wondering why everyone stops listening.
We also will be forced into . War against the people running this world. Will not let you alone. . He sued over 30 time for peace got world war 2 . People running this place want human being dead can we Do anything to stop this is keep telling information good . but aipaic money running everything
I never made the chemical injection appointments. One primary reason was that I had the virus in late September and after 8 days sick went to ER. Doctor said no need for another test ever or vaccine since I had developed natural immunity and he could see it in my blood. The hospital then contacted me for blood plasma 10 days later. LOL I was a walking pharma. I will never get a jab for anything. I will never trust their religion, I mean "science".
I know that i worked about 80 hours a week at the restaurant I owned to keep it open and ended up building a huge to go business that remained after and the entire time I was working, I wasn't quarantined. I was just slaving away for to keep my employees from being a homeless and it felt odd the entire time. I was still living my reality and everyone else was coming in and I didn't know what was going on. Didn't really have time to explore it but long story short I missed my vaccine appointment and they allowed essential employees to get them early with senior citizens and I haven't got it to this day not even once
Love, love, love this essay. You express the problem so well. I lived in a nation that has a national health care system. EVERYONE HAS ACCESS TO THE HEALTHCARE THEY NEED. This is a nation that is not even close to having the wealth that the US has. This is how it works: if you need to see a doctor, you go to your local clinic. It's first-come, first-served. If the doctor prescribes treatment or a medication, you get the treatment or medication your doctor prescribes. There is NO CHARGE at the point of service. The system is funded by universal taxation. It includes dental care.
In the county next to the one in which I live -- it is in Maryland and is a suburb of DC -- a little boy DIED because his family did not have dental insurance and they could find a dentist to treat an abscess in his tooth. He died from that. That is NOT acceptable. We can do better and our health care does not have to involve the ridiculous bureaucracy over which we have no control.
Thank you for addressing this topic. Of course, it isn't only health care as you so eloquently point out.
Thank you for sharing that perspective. Stories like that are exactly why this issue frustrates so many people.
Regardless of where someone stands on single-payer, public options, private insurance, or some hybrid system, I think most Americans agree on one basic principle: no child should die because their family can't afford care.
The wealthiest nation in history should be capable of guaranteeing access to essential medical, dental, and mental health care while still debating the best way to deliver it. We seem to spend far more time arguing over ideology than solving the actual problem.
I appreciate you taking the time to read and contribute to the discussion.
Mental Health Care? Yeah right! None of that is available in the state that I live in! God do I wish it was! I have two sons with issues, one of them some major issues! I also have a grandson that has major issues! Trying to find insurance to cover these things and their meds is very hard and ridiculous! No one wants to cover much of any of it! On the grandson, his mother has been busting her behind for over two and a half years to get him the benefits that he so deserves! My benefits came twenty years ago with one word! Yes, you read that right, one word! That word was TERMINAL! I will be listed that for the rest of my life! Even though I’m in remission, my cancer can come back at any day, week, month or year! I was given six months to live! I have been blessed with twenty years next month! Am I grateful, well partially! I have survived for now but while I was sick, my husband and I fought tooth and nail not to lose what we had! About a year after, we lost everything! We lost our home, our land, a good bit of our belongings, our dignity, everything! Tell me again I live in the richest country on Earth, I’ll laugh in your face and tell you Nice Try! I don’t believe one word of that! Sorry, not with what we went through! And on top of that, I lost my wonderful husband nine years ago! What’s out there for me? Not much at this point!
I do think your post is great! I just wish more was true! I will follow you though, even though I can’t afford to be a paid subscriber even though I want to! Sorry about that!
This is exactly the piece talking about. Insulin that floats freely, chemo with no "budget version," a country that spends a trillion on defense and can't seem to find the money to keep a family from losing everything to a diagnosis. You didn't just read that argument, you lived it. Twenty years of survival, and the reward was your home, your land, and eventually your husband too.
And your grandson's mother spending two and a half years fighting for benefits he needs isn't a bureaucratic hiccup, it's the same design flaw. A system that makes basic survival something you have to prove, repeatedly, to people whose job is to say no.
You don't need to be a paid subscriber for your story to matter here. Thank you for telling it, and for still showing up. I'm sorry it took losing so much to get you this far.
You articulate the problem so well. I hope you are working to maximize the audience for your writing because I'm convinced that Americans could embrace the idea of a universal health care system if we could find the way to communicate this message that gets through to them. Seriously.
Americans have already embraced it. They have embraced it for decades. We pay Israel every single year. Israel has universal healthcare. So we pay for universal healthcare already. Handled.
You will be seeing a podcast I did with Ty Pinkins this week where he discusses this in depth. I actually didn't know that, but I knew every other country in Europe and most of Southeast Asia has it so it didn't surprise me.
It is very unfortunate that we pay Israel all that money and they have a Universal Health Care and we don't and I love the way that you worded this.
I'm aJersey Boy... We love sarcasm... so the way you put it is very jersey-esque... It's a compliment.
This might be your best post yet
Start with establishing real measures of prosperity. We can only make progress when we can measure. Today, we have essentially zero useful measures.
Bob. You should really join this publication subscribers and contribute to the community. The more intelligent contributions, the more valuable it is for all of us.
Automation and greed are tearing a massive hole in the economy.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is happening now. We already lost our manufacturing jobs. Next is retail, call center, fast-food jobs, and many others are going to follow.
We have unprecedented economic transformation where the current winner-take-all capitalist system fails ordinary people. I think economy must serve humanity rather than treating people merely as inputs for efficiency machines.
Like you alluded to, we need to redefine progress. I love the idea of replacing GDP metrics with measurements that actually reflect societal well-being… such as children's success, mental health, substance abuse rates, clean air, clean water, and affordability… those things automatically give us insight that the other dominos are positioned correctly.
I think we need a "trickle up economy" and a human-centered vision where all human beings are valued equal, like it says and all of our guardrails are enforced to take away this unbridled economic approach we have seen ramp up over the past 25yrs.
The invisible tax we pay just to keep our heads above water in systems not built for us to actually thrive. Such a powerful read.
Thanks brother. Yeah I have worked in the restaurant Industries to get out of college and just sold my share of my restaurant in 2024 and decided to start writing of all things… Eminem restaurant and operating in the front of the house it gives you a ton of stress and also the opportunity to talk to all kinds of people. I feel like I needed to start writing with a message that's different from what people normally get and talks about things that more people have in common than the tV or Internet usually has us believe
And that shows. I'm really grateful for this piece. Thank you for writing it.
Damn-this piece is AMAZING
Thank you so much Heather ... it's definitely one of my favorites.
I tried to do a weekly update where I pin five posts on the top and nine posts on the bottom, to go along with the six top posts and the six recent posts that substack puts there…
All together, you have about 25 posts that I've written that I feel are the best for the most people.
https://uncomfortable.rxansmithmedia.com
Thank you for the explanation and direction.
I will try to get into the material. Your material.
Please keep us all uncomfortable
Good to know. Me and the rest of the world needs your humor.
That's wonderful. We need more talented happy funny people that don't know when to stop. Lead the way
I can provide other ideas if you run out. Humor may be our only hope
And I am going to try to start writing down the funny things I say and adding them to my writing because humor does have a huge power to heal
Draw pictures on your underwear and post the pictures.
Please keep laughing. We need some humor to get through this. Please send jokes or funny faces
I promise you I don't think I even have the ability to stop. Lol
Hey, wait a minute. Let’s hear it for socialism: https://youtu.be/Sqe6gRjOxbI
I love your writing. Makes things easier to understand and pushes me to think about my own assumptions
everything you said Hitler did .took control of money . no government debt . two made sure people came first . putting them to work with vacation 8 hour day and got rid the parasite Jews
OK Fred... I agree that governments should be judged by whether ordinary people can afford to live, work, and build a future. That's a conversation worth having. It's what I write about almost every day... Along with the instructions of 12 ways to get there back to my data and history . Don't really try to form opinions, just point out the things that I have receipts for that are not in the mainstream narrative.
..m. equating those goals with Hitler?
You can't separate economic policies from the fascist regime responsible for dictatorship, aggressive war, political repression, and the systematic murder of millions of innocent people, including six million Jews.
Those crimes aren't a footnote to the discussion. It strips away credibility.
My argument is that we should learn from history, not romanticize authoritarian regimes.
If a policy has merit, defend it on its own evidence, if it can't survive evidence... He really don't need to put Hitler as its spokesman. It's like not surviving evidence and throwing your juice on the ground afterwards...
That keeps the conversation focused on policy while drawing a clear line against historical revisionism and antisemitic rhetoric. Humans have an odd habit of taking a legitimate point, attaching it to the worst possible example, and then wondering why everyone stops listening.
And pick up your juice, son
We also will be forced into . War against the people running this world. Will not let you alone. . He sued over 30 time for peace got world war 2 . People running this place want human being dead can we Do anything to stop this is keep telling information good . but aipaic money running everything
I never made the chemical injection appointments. One primary reason was that I had the virus in late September and after 8 days sick went to ER. Doctor said no need for another test ever or vaccine since I had developed natural immunity and he could see it in my blood. The hospital then contacted me for blood plasma 10 days later. LOL I was a walking pharma. I will never get a jab for anything. I will never trust their religion, I mean "science".
Covid19 was a psyop
I know that i worked about 80 hours a week at the restaurant I owned to keep it open and ended up building a huge to go business that remained after and the entire time I was working, I wasn't quarantined. I was just slaving away for to keep my employees from being a homeless and it felt odd the entire time. I was still living my reality and everyone else was coming in and I didn't know what was going on. Didn't really have time to explore it but long story short I missed my vaccine appointment and they allowed essential employees to get them early with senior citizens and I haven't got it to this day not even once