A healthcare startup has used AI to make its own version of Saturday Night Live’s “Washington’s Dream,” complete with eerily lifelike versions of the Founding Fathers discussing the mysteries of the American healthcare system.
The company is CrowdHealth, and its new video—billed as “Washington’s Dream for Healthcare”—borrows the premise and comic rhythm of Nate Bargatze’s two popular SNL sketches, then swaps in deductibles, denied claims, employer-sponsored insurance, and pharmacy benefit managers.
“Gentlemen, today we create the finest healthcare system the world has ever known,” Washington declares.
“Wonderful. Will it be affordable?”
“No.”
You get the idea.
CrowdHealth’s version won’t be confused with the real thing. For one, Bargatze is nowhere to be found, nor are any members of the SNL cast. Instead, the video swaps lifelike versions of Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison into the scene.
But if the production is different, the comic machinery is immediately familiar. Just as Bargatze’s Washington—penned by SNL writing partners Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell—confidently envisioned a country where 12 inches make a foot but 5,280 feet make a mile, this Washington calmly explains a healthcare system whose basic rules become less comprehensible the more questions anyone asks about them.
Who decides whether a doctor’s recommended treatment is covered?
“Another man shall decide.”
“Another physician?”
“No. A man in a call center who will place you on hold.”
And when the subject turns to healthcare pricing, Washington informs the group that a bandage might cost $3—or $300.
“Based on what?”
“No one knows.”
The video also takes aim at the pharmacy benefit manager, which Washington describes as ‘a man who touches no medicine, sees no patient, and stands between the two deciding the price in secret.
SNL‘s original “Washington’s Dream” aired during Bargatze’s hosting debut on Oct. 28, 2023, and was quickly hailed as an instant classic, becoming one of the season’s most-watched sketches. When Bargatze returned to host the following October, SNL brought his deadpan George Washington back for “Washington’s Dream 2,” this time taking on the peculiarities of American English.
Founded in 2021, CrowdHealth is not itself health insurance, but rather a healthcare-sharing alternative in which members help fund one another’s medical expenses. Founder and CEO Andy Schoonover has said his own frustrations with insurance—including an insurer declining to cover an $8,000 procedure for his young son that doctors deemed medically necessary—helped inspire him to start the company.
Watch the company’s “Washington’s Dream” video at the top of this post.
