It Depends

  "Is Obamacare better than what we had before it?" - Uncle Ken

That depends on how far back you want to go.  Obamacare without the individual mandate is probably better than what we had immediately before it.  I expect, however, that the individual mandate will be restored by the Democrats the first chance they get.  What we had a few decades before that was better yet.  That was when the Company paid the whole insurance premium and we paid nothing.  When I first started at the paper mill, the Company paid half and we paid half.  We eventually got the Company to pay three quarters and, finally, all of it.  We only had that for a few years, and then it started going back the other way.  

Although it was before our time, I have been told that it was even better before health insurance was invented.  Larger counties had a charity hospital, like your own Cook County has even unto this day.  Many of the smaller counties had a charity ward or a charity wing in their local hospitals.  To be sure, it was no frills health care, but it was free.  Small town doctors would often treat poor people for free, making up the difference by charging their paying customers a little more.  I have heard that some country doctors would even take a chicken or a bushel of potatoes for payment but, while that may be just folklore, it should have been true.  Of course, most people were more honest in those days and paid their bills eventually if they possibly could.  My wife's parents were unable to pay for the birth of one of their children until years later.  The doctor had since retired, but they tracked him down and payed their bill.  

The way I remember the maggot thing is that maggots will only eat dead tissue, not living tissue.  The maggot cure was indicated if you had gangrene or something like that and proper medical care was not available, like in a POW camp.  I don't remember the pissing treatment, but I suppose it would be better than nothing if clean water was not available.  It wouldn't disinfect the wound, but it might flush out dirt or powder residue that would lead to infection if left in there.  

This just in:

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