Cartoon: It’s Not Easy Being a Health Insurance Executive

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Domestic Violence is a Pre-Existing Condition?!

From Feministing.

Cartoon for Women's eNews: Pre-Existing Condition

Starting this month, I'll be doing biweekly cartoons for the fabulous Women's eNews (which will also be debuting a fabulous new website design sometime soon). Here's the first one, "Pre-Existing Condition." For more on this topic, see "Reformers Say Maternity Benefits Make Dollar Sense" and "Push Is On to Cover Prenatal Care in Health Plan"

Cartoon: The Power of Prevention

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This was loosely inspired by a real woman who called into NPR (I think it was the Brian Lehrer show?) to rage against health care reform and a public option. At first she went on some typical rant about how the evil socialists wanted to force everyone to pay for health care for sick, lazy and old people. She followed up with a sanctimonious self-congratulatory bit about how wonderfully healthy SHE was due to her yoga and consumption of organic and local food and how she didn't need health insurance due to her pure diet.

In other words, for her, sick people were lazy and immoral, and getting cancer was their own damn fault. It's not just this random radio caller, either -- I've increasingly heard that argument elsewhere (especially in talk over the "obesity epidemic").

Sure, yoga is awesome, and local and organic food are fabulous, but they aren't marks of moral superiority or magical wards against disease and illness is not a moral failing. (And isn't the local/sustainable/organic food movement supposed to be about building community and protecting the environment and improving worker conditions for everyone... not just an individualistic way of keeping impurities out of your own special body?)

I wanted to scream through the radio. "Lady, ANYBODY can get sick or injured, no matter their age or diet or yoga skill level!" (Anybody can, say, trip inside their apartment, break their foot, have complications, and need six months of tests and treatments and therapy--lucky me I have health insurance!) Also, EVERYBODY ages.

We need affordable, comprehensive universal health care that doesn't discriminate on health conditions, in which everyone shares the risks—and reaps the rewards when they need it.

Toon: Freedom of Health Care Choice!

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NOT that I think much of the watered-down health care reform that Obama is pushing for (you know I'm a single-payer woman), but hell, it's better than what we got!

Toon: The American Family Health Plan

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It's a classic.

Toon: How Health Savings Accounts Lead to Wiser Health Care Choices

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This was of course inspired by my own unexpected trip to the ER when I broke my foot while making a dare-devil attempt to... pull on my boots. Thing is, heath care is not a finite thing you can save for--like a car, or a house, etc. It's something you need insurance for, because you could suddenly and very unexpectedly need a hell of a lot of it. If I didn't have health insurance, all those X-rays and trips to the ER and the doctor would have cost... eeek!

Universal health care now! Etc.

By the way, here's another cartoon I did about HSAs after I first heard the daft idea in a Bush speech: "Too Darn Healthy", and here's one about crappy health insurance in general, "Gold-Plated Health Plans."

P.S. Yes, I'm catching up on cartoon posting, I've been quite indisposed with my borken foot--it got all painful and swollen and I had to keep it way up in the air for a few weeks, not a good position to use the computer in!

Toon: Badly Needed Jamming Devices

Badly Needed Jamming Devices

Cell phone silencers are just the beginning... let's make jammers for harassers, Hummers and warmongers, too!

New Toon: "Gold-Plated Health Insurance"

Bush is right--the biggest problem with American health care is that it's just too darn comprehensive and fancy and covered in gold and diamonds!

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