A frustrating conversation with a conservative at work

[MindPilot]

I'm the computer guy around here and today was the second time in as many months I’ve had to go to her desk to plug in her laptop power supply because her monitor suddenly "went black". So that should tell you a little bit about her intellectual level.

She was complaining about spending $700 on dental work only to find out that our insurance didn't cover it. The conversation went like this:

Me: Yeah, insurance sucks; they pay for everything except stuff that actually happens.

Her: I blame the government; the liberals over-regulate insurance companies.

Me: That's one good reason among many why we need universal health care.

Her: I don't want to wait in line.

Me: You wait in line now.

Her: My friend from Germany loves it here because she doesn't have to wait in line for her pediatrician. (lengthy anecdote about waiting in line for days for German pediatrician)

Me: Maybe we could do it better than the Germans?

Her: England, Germany, France, all those country's health care systems don't work.

Me: In case you hadn't noticed, ours doesn't work so well either.

Her: Yeah, and it's all the fault of the socialists.

At that point her phone rang and she thanked me for making her computer work again. And they wonder why I drink...

[xmas74]

1. I wait in line for the pediatrician now, even w/ an appointment.

I have, on average, a 2 1/2 to 3 hour wait.

Where is this fabled doctor that no one has to wait for?

[ContraBass Black]

3. I don't think I've ever had a same-day or walk-in pedeatric appoinment.

She must have connections.

[xmas74]

5. I had one only once

and my daughter was diagnosed w/ pneumonia.

The only reason I had a walk-in at all was because the doctor was an old high school friend of mine. The receptionist stated that there were no openings. We were leaving for the ER and I saw him talking to a nurse and stopped him. He took her in immediately as a favor to me, joking about how he owed me since I helped him pass anatomy and physiology in high school.

I bet that will never happen again. My average wait for an appointment is six weeks, if I'm lucky.

[MindPilot]

4. Probably in a neighborhood where it's common to see cars

that cost more than your last three houses.

[xmas74]

6. Maybe.

But even then there is usually some sort of wait, unless you have a large number of doctors per patient (like 1 to every five patients).

She just refuses to look at it any differently. As to the whole "German friend"-I live in a military town. We have quite a few German wives. One of them worked at the clinic where I went for my OB care and she complained nonstop about the quality of care here in the States. Last I heard, her husband was trying to get them stationed in Germany again.

[Left Is Write]

8. I called to make a dentist appointment for my 18yo daughter, and

the wait for an exam/checkup is three months.

I have to call my doctor this week to make sure I get in for my annual physical in May - otherwise it'll be scheduled too far out.

[xmas74]

15. Dentist around here is about three month wait too.

We're on the list right now.

[Wapsie B]

2. People like her are Borgs.

They will not accept anything outside their comfort zone. She's a lost cause. Just like my Dad.

[Left Is Write]

7. How is the current state of health care in this country the fault of

socialists? That's the most ass-backward thing I've heard today.

[gollygee]

9. My first impression too!

I can see her complaining about our healthcare system, I can even see her complaining about socialists, but blaming one on the other?

[LeftyMom]

18. Well you know, all those socialists that run the country

After all, the control all the big corporations, have a majority in both houses of congress....

Oh, I thought you said corporatists. ;)

[Deja Q]

10. Without regulation, what does she think will happen?!

Everyone will suddenly become nice to one another, even financially?

She's in a dreamworld far more bizarre than any I've been in...

[1gobluedem]

11. Ask her how well deregulation has worked for the airlines

Or energy companies. Or the telecommunications or energy industries. In a word...it hasn't.

[LSK]

12. why let her establish the LIE that it doesnt work on Europe???

That is completely unproven and nonsense.

AND

When was the last time anyone DIDNT have to wait for a doctor??????

[CBHagman]

13. She doesn't sound even slightly informed, but...

...print out a few bits of historical information for her, such as what life expectancies and infant mortality rates are in this country, as opposed to other industrialized nations; or that insurance premiums are linked to the bond market and therefore due to capitalism, not "the socialists" :eyes:; or that we pay more in medical costs than other nations, all to insure only some of the population, not all. Ask her who the socialists are and in what branches of government.

Links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/opinion/13krugman.html?ex=1276315200&en=2017e619329d5716&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

And it's all about who's got the money for the campaign against national health insurance.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/books/reviews/3310876.html

"Different stakeholders led the charge against universal coverage in different eras: physicians before the 1970s, insurers and employers afterward. But, Quadagno shows, the campaigns took similar shape, and produced similar results, with each new battle. Particularly striking are the parallels between the fight against Harry Truman in the 1940s and the one against Bill Clinton in the 1990s, from the use of congressional investigations to distract the White House to the literal demonizing of individual reform proponents. ('We first thought of making President Truman the devil, but he's too popular,' an American Medical Association strategist explained in 1949. 'But is a perfect Devil and we're going to give him the works.')"

http://www.chiff.com/a/HLFH703cost.htm

"They found that the United States spent 44 percent more on health care than Switzerland, the nation with the next highest per capita health care costs, in the year 2000. At the same time, Americans had fewer physician visits, and hospital stays were shorter compared with most other industrialized nations. The study suggests that the difference in spending is caused mostly by higher prices for health care goods and services in the United States. The results are published in the May/June 2003 edition of Health Affairs."


I work with someone who is PRECISELY as willfully ignorant as this person you describe, and usually logic and facts don't have an effect on their emotion- and prejudice-driven rants. But maybe some informatio will seep through.

[StellaBlue]

14. The NHS in Britain works.

I used it for four years.

Never had to wait more than two days for an appointment, with the exception of an X-ray, when I had to wait a week. Never had to wait more than ten minutes in the doctor's office. Never had to pay for contraceptives. Never had to pay for anything.

Here? I just returned to the US this past summer, and I've had some medical problems. I was lucky that I could put them off until my health insurance kicked in from my new employer, in January. I have since spent about $400 on two doctor's visits and one blood test, and when I went to the ObGyn I had an appointment at 2, got there at five till, and saw the doctor at 3:30. Ridiculous. This is apparently normal. I also enjoy :sarcasm: how the 'healthcare' workers here try to overprescribe overpriced medicines. Once I had an earrache in the UK, and I went in and saw a nurse practitioner, who saw that I had a wax buildup, which she flushed out. The prescription? Put two drops of olive oil in the ear each night for a few weeks. Seriously. Here, they'd have you on about three different drug rotations.

I know people **do** have problems with the NHS, but, on the whole, it is VASTLY superior to our system here. Healthcare shouldn't be a BUSINESS.

$0.02.

[kay1864]

16. Those dang socialists...

They must be related to the Clenis. Or at least as powerful.

[Ariana Celeste]

17. Funny...

my SO has family in Germany and I've not heard of any complaints from them. Even my SO's mom who has lived there and here and is so "Go America" about everything.

[giant_robot]

19. It's the fault of the socialists?

I thought it was the fault of Clinton's penis. :eyes:

[SlimJimmy]

20. Hahahahaha

that was good