The US poor performing healthcare system.

 

Today, everybody in Taiwan is fully covered for doctor and hospital services. Everybody has a driver’s-license-like healthcare card, which accesses their entire medical history. They can book a doctor’s appointment on any computer terminal in the country, and the entire cost of the system is a bit more than 6 percent of Taiwan’s GDP (in the United States, healthcare consumes 24 percent of our GDP) because there are no insurance company intermediaries sucking profits off the system.

Hartmann, Thom. The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich (pp. 2-3). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition. 

In his book The Hidden History Of American Healthcare by Thom Hartman, he opens  with a description of how different countries, specifically Taiwan and the US dealt with the Covid 19 pandemic. Taiwan and the US are very different countries so it could be argued that you can’t compare their health care systems because of different circumstances, but it is worthy of note that Taiwan covers healthcare for all its citizens at the cost of 6% of their GDP while the US cost is 24% of its GDP and it not only doesn’t cover all its citizens and even the ones who have healthcare coverage are covered poorly with co-pays and deductibles and needs for cost containing authorizations before care can be delivered.

When you reflect on how the US healthcare system operates compared to other first world countries the American system performs at substandard levels in spite of its high cost. This observation leads to the question of why Americans not only tolerate this low performing system but support political representatives who design, and support it?

People or profit in the US health care system?

The U.S. healthcare system stands apart from those of other high-income nations. While nearly all other developed countries utilize some form of universal healthcare to ensure every citizen has coverage, the U.S. relies on a complex, fragmented hybrid system dominated by private, employer-sponsored insurance alongside targeted public programs.

Despite spending nearly twice as much per capita on healthcare as the average wealthy nation, the U.S. frequently sees lower life expectancy and higher rates of chronic illness compared to its peers.

Why is the US health care system the worst in the first world nations? Because it is profit making and the primary incentives for the system is to make a profit not serve the health needs of Americans. 

Why is the system set up this way to maximize profit rather than to provide service? Because the health care corporations spend inordinate sums of money on lobbying and campaign donations to legislators and government executives who support their corporate interests rather than the interests of the people they represent and supposedly are working for.

The primary social policy undermining the US healthcare system is the Citizens United ruling of the US Supreme Court which claims that corporations are persons who have free speech and therefore can spend any amount of money they choose to sponsor and support elected officials at all levels of government.

If you want to change the health care system in the US to better serve people, elect legislators and executive officials who want what’s best for their constituents and not the corporations. We need politicians who support people not profit.

Which is the best: audio or print books?

There is an interesting article on the Cornell University Evidence Based Living web site entitled, “Is Listening To Audiobooks As Good As Reading?”

Here are a couple of quotes from the article:

The analysis did find that literal comprehension — recognizing explicitly stated facts — was approximately the same for reading and listening. The paper’s authors hypothesized that readers have an advantage because they can slow down, reread a tricky paragraph, or pause to reflect, while listeners must move at the narrator’s pace.”
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Divided attention consistently reduces how much we retain, which likely accounts for differences in comprehension when comparing reading and listening.
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The evidence doesn’t suggest we should avoid audiobooks altogether, but rather that we should make careful choices about when to listen and when to read. “Audiobooks come at a cognitive price and one should not substitute them for reading,” Sternberg says.The take-home message: Although the human brain interprets reading and listening in similar ways, the evidence shows that listening likely does not promote cognitive development as much as reading.

I have noticed that my experience of listening to audiobooks and reading print is quite different and serve different purposes. The more challenging the material the more I get from print. I like listening to audiobooks for pleasure and reading print for information. I notice that a lot is lost when I listen to audiobooks as compared to when I read print.

For example, most nonfiction I would rather read print while fiction is usually OK in audio unless there are unusual names and words in which case I prefer print.

When it comes to rereading, it is much easier and more satisfying to reread in print. I found this especially true when I listened to the audiobook first. I don’t find it enjoyable or satisfying to listen to an audio of a book I already read in print.

88 corporations pay no federal income tax in 2025

From Common Dreams on 06/11/26 

Eighty-eight corporations that paid no federal income tax last year spent roughly $852 million on US campaign contributions and lobbying during recent election cycles, a report published Thursday revealed.

The report, “The Current Price of Zero,” was authored by Eileen O’Grady, a researcher at Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. The publication draws upon an analysis published in April by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) showing that at least 88 of the nation’s largest companies paid no federal corporate income tax in fiscal year 2025, despite reporting combined US pretax income of around $105 billion.

Here Comes The Sun by Bill McKibben

Bill McKibben's Here Comes The Sun offers a hopeful yet urgent perspective on the climate crisis, arguing that the rapid advancements in solar and wind power present a genuine opportunity—a "last chance for the climate and a fresh chance for civilization"—to transition away from fossil fuels.

The core argument is that renewable energy, particularly solar, has become the cheapest power source on the planet and is growing at an unprecedented, exponential rate. McKibben details this "solar revolution" with compelling examples, highlighting how this shift is not just an environmental necessity but an economic and geopolitical imperative. He frames solar power as the "Costco of energy"—inexpensive and available in bulk—no longer the "Whole Foods of energy" (nice but pricey alternative).

Here Comes The Sun gave me a whole new way of thinking about climate change and how we, as humans, will adjust to the changes we are experiencing now and in the future.

I highly recommend Here Comes The Sun and will give my copy free to anyone who wants it. Email me the address you want it sent to to davidgmarkham@gmail. com

House insurance no longer available

 Twelve percent of American homeowners had no insurance in 2024 at all, up from 5 percent in 2019, and as Bloomberg reported in December 2024, more and more of those who could find a policy were getting it from “non-allowed” companies—essentially unregulated firms that had been designed to cover “unique and relatively rare risks, like a fireworks factory or nuclear waste project.” If you can get a new policy, the premiums often rise by a third or more—as the Senate Budget Committee noted drily, “This underscores that climate change has become a major cost-of-living issue for families across the country.” Forget the price of eggs for a minute—insurance premiums are going up 40 percent faster than inflation.

But again, it’s deeper than that. At some point—a point we seem to be nearing—the inability to buy insurance means that the value of homes begin to decline. The latest global estimate is that by 2050 climate change could wipe out almost 10 percent of the value of the planet’s housing stock, or $25 trillion. For most Americans, one’s home is the greatest source of one’s wealth—therefore, as the Budget Committee reported, “any widespread decline in property values would thus present a systemic risk to the U.S. economy similar to what occurred during the 2007– 2008 mortgage meltdown and ensuing global financial crisis.” Indeed, “the difference from 2008 is that the financial system and asset values could and did recover.

McKibben, Bill. Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization (pp. 84-85). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition. 

People often wonder “Why is this happening?” They don’t or can’t connect the dots.

House values will decline if they can’t be insured and they can’t be insured because the risk

of damage due to weather events caused by climate change is too high.

Climate change deniers and their supporters don’t get it and when they do it will be too late.

Have you seen an increase in house and renter insurance premiums where you live?

Trump lies about wind energy

 

Speaking in Pennsylvania a few weeks before the 2024 election, Donald Trump repeated the standard gospel—wind, he said, “is the most expensive form of energy there is. You cannot get more expensive.” It won’t surprise you to learn he is wrong, indeed upside down.

McKibben, Bill. Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization (p. 81). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition. 

In the first Trump presidency the Washington Post counted his lies which came to over 30,000. I don’t know if the WP is counting in the second presidential term but if so, it must be over 50,000.

Many of the thousands of lies are very harmful to the well being of Americans and people around the world. As we are discussing the development of renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal, the Republican support for fossil fuels and disparaging of renewable energy resources seems all the more egregious in the face of the climate damage and economic costs of fossil fuel usage.

What circle of hell will Trump and his supporters descend to when their bodies die? Where will their souls go?

Economic boycotts allow citizens to vote every day with their money.

 We Ain't Buying It is a protest against companies that undermine democratic processes and support autocratic government.

Why do business with companies that undermine democratic processes? Supporting these companies gives them power to harm our society. Not doing something, like boycotting doing business with them, is doing something significant.

Join us in sending a message to these three companies that their harmful practices will not enjoy our support.

Markham's Slow News Index #1, November 15/2025

 

1. Sterilization has gone up significantly for females after overturning Roe Vs. Wade in 2022. Click here

2. U.S. children who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to die after surgery. Click here 

3. Heat-related deaths in the U.S. have surged more than 50% over the past two decades. Click here.

4. Eighty-nine percent of teachers said banning of phones in schools have improved the school environment. Click here

5. 91 percent of study participants with an average age of 32 report improvement in mental health with a 15 day smartphone ban. Click here

6. 15 day smartphone ban found better method of decreasing symptoms of depression than antidepressants. Click here

7. Seventy five percent of CPS cases in Monroe County, NY are unfounded. Click here.

8. Estimates that investigations based on those unsubstantiated reports cost the county about $13.8 million in 2024 — nearly $2,700 per case. Click here

9. Poverty is being mistaken for neglect. Rochester has one of the highest child poverty rates in the country. Click here

10. Anonymous calls account for about 7% of the reported incidents but are unsubstantiated roughly 97% of the time. Click here.

11. In New York State AI Companions Now Must Detect and Implement Safety Protocol if Users Discuss Self Harm and Must Refer them to Crisis Centers. Click here

12. Between 2019 and 2023, New York’s Medicaid plans consistently outperformed national Medicaid plans by a factor of 2. Click here

13. New Law in New York State requires schools to create and implement anti-bullying policies and procedures. Click here.

14. Data show that between January and June, labor force participation rate of women ages 25 to 44 living with a child under five fell nearly three percentage points, from 69.7% to 66.9%, Click here

15. Congress members get paid during government shut down but janitors don’t. Click here.

16. There were no January 6th FBI agitators. Click here.

17. Only 5%, 1 out of 20, people say they feel heard at the end of a conversation. Click here.

18. Small children don’t receive 80 different vaccines. Click here.

Solar and wind energy is delivered right to your community every day lost cost and climate friendly

 Forty percent of the world’s ship traffic, for instance, consists of moving coal and gas and oil back and forth across the ocean to be burned, a delivery job the sun accomplishes each morning as it moves across the heavens.

McKibben, Bill. Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization (p. 50). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition. 

The fact that forty percent of fossil fuels are transported by ship traffic which themselves burn tremendous amounts of fossil fuel just to facilitate their delivery is significant when another source of energy, solar and wind, is daily delivered right to our door without any effort on human effort whatsoever.

As a side note, Ukraine may be winning the war with Russia because it has damaged the ports and shipping of Russian oil which was providing the funding for Russia’s war against Ukraine. Will the customers for that Russian oil now be motivated to change their energy sources from fossil to renewable energy?