Our failed healthcare system.

Bob Dylan turns 82 today. Happy birthday Bob.

I’m turning 75 on June 14th.

Flag day.

My late grandmother Esther Wainer’s birthday.

In Illinois if you’re 75 and are renewing your driver’s license you have to take a road test.

It’s my first road test since I was 16.

I think it is arbitrary and smacks of age discrimination.

The other thing is that at my age I am a pretty big healthcare consumer.

I have a healthcare rap sheet that is, happily, pretty long. I’m happy because I’m still here.

The list includes a heart attack (mild, if there is such a thing), a bout with cancer, and ongoing treatment of Crohn’s disease.

Which is to say that I have a close relationship with the American healthcare system.

It sucks.

I’m not talking about the individual care givers. I’m not talking about my doctors, nurses and the other health care professionals. With very few exceptions they have been great.

I’m talking about the system.

And I’m not alone in feeling this way.

68 percent of Americans support a public option, and 55 percent support Medicare for All.

This Obamacare thing isn’t working.

Neither is reliance by seniors on privatized Medicare Advantage.

We may be the richest country in the world and spend more on health care than any other industrialized country on the planet, yet we still have the worst health outcomes.

A 2022 study found that 1 in 10 U.S. adults have significant medical debt, and one in 2019 found that over 500,000 medical bankruptcies are filed annually.

My retired friends who travel all, without exception, have a story to tell of needing medical attention in another country and found the comparisons to the United States note worthy.

Astounding, in fact.

For millions of Americans who don’t have the benefit of retired healthcare insurance and Medicare, it is far worse.

So far, far worse.

Once again, as has happened every congressional session since 1970, a bill establishing national healthcare has been introduced.

U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Debbie Dingell (MI-06) and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are today introducing the Medicare for All Act of 2023. The House legislation is cosponsored by more than half of the Democratic Caucus and 13 powerful committee ranking members.

“We live in a country where millions of people ration lifesaving medication or skip necessary trips to the doctor because of cost,” said Jayapal. “Sadly, the number of people struggling to afford care continues to skyrocket as millions of people lose their current health insurance as pandemic-era programs end. Breaking a bone or getting sick shouldn’t be a reason that people in the richest country in the world go broke. There is a solution to this health crisis — a popular one that guarantees health care to every person as a human right and finally puts people over profits and care over corporations. That solution is Medicare for All — everyone in, nobody out. I’m so proud to fight for this legislation to finally ensure that all people can get the care they need and the care they deserve.”

It’s not likely to go anywhere, of course.

With half the Democrats in Congress not in support, the distractions of debt limit debates and a MAGA majority in the House, your health is your problem.