Joe Rogan used a recent episode of his podcast to lay out a blunt case for universal healthcare funding, telling guest Chris Williamson that medical coverage should be treated the same way society treats fire departments: a shared public good that nobody has to earn the right to access.
“I think healthcare 100% should be socially funded,” Rogan said. “I think that Medicare and Medicaid, having programs where people who are hurt can get an operation and it’s not going to bankrupt them for the rest of their life is another thing that I think society should be, it should be a part of our agreement to take care of each other as a community that we chip in money for what people would think of as socialist positions.”
Rogan pointed to the fire department as the clearest example of a service almost everyone already accepts as collectively funded.
“You give your tax dollars, the tax dollar supports the fire department. The fire department fairly puts out fires for everybody. They don’t not put out your fire because they don’t have any money.”
He was careful to note that supporting a public safety net doesn’t mean he wants to eliminate competition or excellence in medicine.
“I also believe in competition. I want my doctor to be a bad motherf[]er who drives a Mercedes. I want my doctor to like be really good. I want him to be an artist.”
At the same time, he argued there’s room for skilled doctors who want to serve the community, comparing it to public defenders who choose that path because they want to help people.
Rogan tied the issue back to his own upbringing, noting his family relied on food stamps and other assistance when he was young.
“I remember that helping us a lot. We had food where I don’t know what we would be doing if we didn’t… And I think social safety nets are very important for people. It’s very important for society.”
The conversation turned personal when Rogan described the toll medical debt takes on everyday people.
“If you know anybody that’s been injured and was bankrupt because they didn’t have insurance and then they had to get some crazy operation and now they have this enormous debt and they wind up going bankrupt or they’re getting chased down for the money for the rest of their life. It’s horrible.”
Williamson agreed, saying, “It’s the number one cause of bankruptcy in America, medical debt.”
Williamson, who grew up under Britain’s National Health Service, said the American system struck him as barbaric, recalling a tour guide in New Orleans who described the risk of being bankrupted by a single accident without insurance.
Rogan also raised concerns about conflicts of interest in medicine, pointing to the revolving door between regulators and pharma companies and financial incentives tied to prescribing certain treatments, calling it “creepy” that doctors can receive bonuses for vaccination rates among patients.
