More proof of why we badly need "Obamacare"

And from where else today but The New York Times?

In Need of a New Hip, but Priced Out of the U.S.

Our health care system, being beyond question the most expensive in the world, is forcing some of us to have to go outside the country, to other nations that have--oops--universal health care and far less expensive systems.

A bit of the article:

WARSAW, Ind. — Michael Shopenn’s artificial hip was made by a company based in this remote town, a global center of joint manufacturing. But he had to fly to Europe to have it installed.        

Mr. Shopenn, 67, an architectural photographer and avid snowboarder, had been in such pain from arthritis that he could not stand long enough to make coffee, let alone work. He had health insurance, but it would not cover a joint replacement because his degenerative disease was related to an old sports injury, thus considered a pre-existing condition.        

Desperate to find an affordable solution, he reached out to a sailing buddy with friends at a medical device manufacturer, which arranged to provide his local hospital with an implant at what was described as the “list price” of $13,000, with no markup. But when the hospital’s finance office estimated that the hospital charges would run another $65,000, not including the surgeon’s fee, he knew he had to think outside the box, and outside the country.

“That was a third of my savings at the time,” Mr. Shopenn said recently from the living room of his condo in Boulder, Colo. “It wasn’t happening.”  
     

$65,000 here in the States vs. a mere $13,000 in Belgium.

 Round trip flight included.

The isn't working, folks. The health care system we have is broken. It doesn't work for the people. The companies and corporations are getting rich--filthy, stinking--on our backs. It's good for them but it's keeping the rest of us either broke, sick, in pain or even dead prematurely.

We need the Affordable Care Act. 

We need "Obamacare."

And badly.