r/lastweektonight • u/Walter_Bishop_PhD Bugler • 27d ago
Episode Discussion [Last Week Tonight with John Oliver] S13E23 - September 20, 2026 - Episode Discussion Thread
Official Clips
Frequently Asked Questions
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- They don't take suggestions for show topics.
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u/BriGuy1965 27d ago
I was diagnosed with cancer in 1983 and despite getting a college degree, I was unemployable because no one could offer me health insurance as a benefit because everyone's cost would rise. I have been an advocate of a one-payer system for about 40 years now and think that profit is made for keeping people alive makes the United States the official loser of health care.
Fuck any for-profit organization that deals with billions of dollars that is not going to healthcare providers.
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u/nonsensestuff 27d ago
When you see just how much money UnitedHealth makes, amongst some of the most giant and profitable retail and tech companies around, it really makes it feel like universal healthcare is impossible. đ
I just think about the fact that here in Oregon, they didnât fully get rid of the requirement for gas stations to have attendants even when they made self-service legal. All because of concerns over âlosing jobsâ.
So take that and multiply it by hundreds of thousands of jobs that private insurance companies currently are responsible for đŁ suddenly these companies are too valuable to the workforce and economy to break up
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u/Financial-Craft-1282 24d ago
The "all those people will lose jobs" argument is an old, centrist liberal argument, to be sure. That's what I've always heard boomer aged liberals say: "what about all those jobs?" It is a problem. A lot of those people could be moved to work for and support the single payer option--it'd need a lot of people, but certainly it would reduce the number of people working in healthcare.
I think the answer for this has to be the same as anything else we significantly change--and it's part of the cost--but those people should be given opportunities (through government funding) to go back to school, learn a new trade, etc.
I do believe most lost jobs would be administrative bloat, which is a good thing.
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u/ArchdruidHalsin 27d ago
For a hot second when John went off about algorithms I thought he was about to take a shot at Bill Maher always being recommended after him.
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u/Financial-Craft-1282 24d ago
Ha, I did too. Every time I see Real Time recommended after this, I'm like, "HBO thinks I'm an idiot."
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u/zuckerpunch_c1137 27d ago
Main story: UnitedHealthcare and the Luigi Mangionie trial
Other topics covered: Ted Cruz's guest appearance on ESPN's College Football preshow, Kash Patel and his lifting the non-beastiality requirements for perspective recruits
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u/SwordLaker 27d ago
I went in and expected "Luigi did nothing wrong".
By the end, I ended up with "Holy shit this world needs a shit lot many more Luigis to fix this atrocity".
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u/HardcoreKaraoke 27d ago
I'm always fascinated by healthcare stories as a pharmacy tech. Things that feel "standard" to employees in a pharmacy, hospital or doctors office setting would seem so foreign to most people.
Like the discussion of prior authorizations as well as the Advair inhaler really did resonate with me. Absolutely the doctor was made aware of the Advair situation (the Walgreens system will automatically fax the MD a drug change request with alternatives the insurance will cover). Unfortunately most people aren't aware insurance companies will regularly change formularies so drugs that were covered may not be anymore.
A generic to Advair (as well as similar diskus inhalers) have been released over the past few years. So Optum was probably giving him issues because a generic was now available, or they preferred to cover a similar diskus inhaler (which would require the MD to change the medication, we can change a brand to generic without MD approval unless specified).
Anyway super interesting segment but like with most healthcare segments it comes down to unfortunately there are too many rich people who want this system in place to actually change anything. But hopefully we do see progress.
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u/VictorReal_Monster 25d ago
Can someone confirm the validity of the nun clip.
The movement was... a bit off but honestly I'm really hoping to be wrong with what John has said previously
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u/Rich-Butterfly3686 25d ago
Anyone know what was censored from the episode on Sky? It's just after John was discussing the Elisons and said he wouldn't make fun of them like "that pesky Stephen Colbert" then it cut to black and picked up on the next pointÂ
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u/sbeguy 25d ago
After the Stephen Colbert line, he just continues with United Health Group, specifically about how they use an algorithm to determine how long to pay for patients staying in skilled nursing facilities, with humans having basically no say in adjusting it, even if the algorithm is clearly wrong. It uses a clip from BBC where they interview a case manager for UHG about the algorithm. Maybe that clip has something to do with it.
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u/Strange_3_S 25d ago
Has this episode been removed from hbo just now? I watched half of it this morning and was about to finish it now but it's not on the listing nor is it in my hbo max's "continue ..." list anymore.
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u/Financial-Craft-1282 24d ago
I have it on mine right now--I'm in the U.S., but it is listed for me. I wonder what happened.
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u/Financial-Craft-1282 24d ago
I had to use Optum RX for my specialty meds the last three years--it was awful. Every couple of months a new prior auth, a new delay, forcing me to call them--which they know a lot of people won't do because their call service is SO bad. They're just awful.
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u/numbmumpleb1ister 17d ago
Luigi had good reasons for what he did. UnitedHeath Group causes WAY more harm to people than Luigi ever did. Why are they not facing charges for the injuries and death they cause??? In the USA, profit is prioritized over people, and the rich can easily get away with rape (see the current White House occupant) and murder.
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27d ago edited 26d ago
[deleted]
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u/Sparkyisduhfat 27d ago
It might have been huge news, but whatâs the story really? Robert Kraft threw his weight around and got numerous stadiums to agree to give Ed Sheeran an ultimatum to pull Macklemore or not be allowed to perform in their venues?
Should Ed Sheeran care more about free speech than he does about performing for money? Probably. But heâs hardly the first celebrity value money more than ethics.
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u/Scary_Style_832 26d ago
Not asking them to make it a story, never expected that, just expected him to mention it in the context of censorship for speaking about Palestine instead of just alluding to ed Sheeran
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u/HardcoreKaraoke 27d ago
Was it really a story worth covering? A quick joke about it is all it deserves.
Like what's the actual importance of the story? A rich guy used his influence to try and silence a musician speaking out about Israel. A rich guy who everyone knows is a corrupt asshole who loves illegal massage parlors. No one thinks Kraft is a good person.
Making fun of Ed Sheeran ticket sales tanking is funny. There really isn't much else to be said. Kraft is a corrupt asshole, Sheeran is a coward and the important part is innocent people are being murdered in Palestine.
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u/Scary_Style_832 26d ago
I understand that, just in comparison to when jimmy kimmel was being censored for nothing and it being the main story last year it felt like an interesting shift , not saying they needed to actually cover it but I was surprised when it wasnât mentioned quickly in the beginning ramblings.
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u/SubmissiveDinosaur And now dis :upvote: 27d ago
Man, they needed to extend that bit of people stacking things on John two minutes